Bhopal, Sep 20 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Friday took out tractor rallies across the state seeking procurement price of Rs 6000 per quintal for soybean.
Close to 500 tractors and 5,000 farmers took part in rallies held in each of the 55 districts on the 11th day of the party’s ‘Kisan Nyaya Yatra’, MP Congress chief Jitu Ptwari told PTI.
A homeguard, Dharmendra Solanki, who was deputed on duty at a rally site in Ujjain, died after he complained of chest pain, officials said.
Congress leader Dharmesh Jain fell of a tractor during the protest in Ujjain and was admitted in a private hospital, with doctors saying his condition was stable.
In Indore, a party worker was injured while trying to pull down a barricade, with a video showing Patwari attending to him.
“The first phase of yatra will end on Saturday with a massive protest in Harda. In the second phase, we are going to reach the mandis (grain markets) and have dialogues with farmers. In the last phase we are going to gherao (encircle) the MP Assembly,” Patwari said.
In Indore, Patwari drove a tractor to the collectorate with Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh sitting beside him.
In Bhopal, senior leader Ajay Singh led the protest while former chief minister Kamal Nath flagged off the rally in his stronghold Chhindwara.
In Bhopal, the protest was led by former state minister PC Sharma, who drove a tractor, while Leader of Opposition in the assembly Umang Singhar took part in Alirajpur.
Apart from Rs 6000 per quintal for soybean, the Congress also sought Rs 2700 as MSP for wheat and Rs 3100 per quintal for paddy.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced financial help of Rs 5 lakh for homeguard Solanki’s kin, while Patwari said the compensation amount should be Rs 50 lakh.
MP is the country’s largest soybean producing state but farmers were distressed due to lack of remunerative prices, the party leaders said.
“Under BJP rule, the prices of soybean have not increased but cost of production continues to rise. Therefore, farmers are demanding that the state government buy soybean at Rs 6,000 per quintal. They are not getting fair prices due to the anti-farmer policies of the Union government, which is working for oil mill owners,” Digvijaya Singh said addressing the stir in Indore.
Senior Congress leader KK Mishra said the BJP government tried every trick in the book to foil the protests but failed.
“The state government used bulldozers, JCB machines and dumpers to block entry of tractors in the rallies. Despite it, our rallies got an overwhelming response,” claimed Mishra, who is media adviser to Patwari.
Incidentally, four days ago, the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh had staged protests across MP seeking Rs 6000 per quintal for soybean.
On the day the Congress’ Kisan Nyaya Yatra began on September 10, the MP government approved a proposal to hike soybean MSP from Rs 4,892 to Rs 6000 per quintal.
Officials said the hike has been approved by the Union government. PTI LAL HWP MAS BNM
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