Ahead of the Haryana Assembly elections, farmers’ organisations under the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have decided to step up their campaign against the Nayab Singh Saini government in the State. However, the organisation finds itself divided with influential leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), deciding to revive his political party to contest the elections.
Mr. Charuni told The Hindu that he is yet to decide on joining an alliance and the number of seats his party will contest. He said that the SKM is not entering politics but farmers need a party to voice their concerns.
The State government announcing a minimum support price (MSP) for 10 more productions was the reason for the rift. While the SKM held that this step was just an eyewash, Mr. Charuni welcomed the decision, inviting appreciation from the BJP.
The SKM is hosting a convention in Bhiwani on Tuesday to discuss plans for after the announcement of Assembly elections. Senior leader Inderjit Singh said the SKM’s call to defeat the BJP will be implemented in Haryana too. “During the Lok Sabha elections, SKM worked hard to defeat the BJP candidates in the State,” he recalled.
The main grievance of the SKM is regarding the recent announcement on MSP and other issues of farmers, particularly that of cotton farmers. “The government says it will provide MSP for nine more crops. Our demand is C2+50% (the M.S. Swaminathan formula of calculating MSP with comprehensive cost, family labour and value of land), not simple MSP of A2+FL (input cost and family labour), the existing formula,” Mr. Singh said.
The SKM had said in a recent statement that the MSP of ₹2,300 per quintal offered by the Centre for paddy is based on the A2+FL formula; as per the C2+50% formula, it should be ₹3,012 per quintal.
The announcement has no meaning as no crop will come in the market before the election, scheduled for October 1, he said. “We will expose this double standards of the BJP in our campaigns,” he declared.
The SKM said paddy production in Haryana in 2023-24 was 54.1 lakh tonnes and the the loss suffered by the paddy farmers of the State amounts to ₹3,851.90 crore. “Similar estimation of the loss in each of the 24 crops of Haryana will expose the real anti-farmer face of the BJP and the Nayab Singh Government,” the statement added.
Recently, the All India Kisan Sabha, a constituent of the SKM, organised a protest for cotton farmers. In a complaint to the Haryana Agriculture University, they alleged that the government was colluding with big companies that supply cotton seeds and therefore, innovations to fight pink bollworm, a menace in cotton cultivation, were not reaching farmers.
With a good number of farmers engaged in cotton cultivation in the State, the SKM plans to raise their issues during the campaign. Another major issue is stray cattle, which farmers say is a big threat to crops. “Because of the religious politics, the government has not done anything to control stray cattle,” Mr. Singh alleged.
