Six months to polls, Chouhan rubbishes Congress revival theory, says all opposition top guns are vying for the CM’s post.
Bhopal: With barely six months to go before Madhya Pradesh votes for a new government, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is busy battling one of the biggest issues facing his administration — farmer protests.
At an interaction with reporters Friday, Chouhan brushed aside the Mandsaur firing incident in which six farmers were killed last year, saying it was “not a rebellion”, and blamed, instead, the opposition Congress for fanning unrest.
“We know that they (the Congress) are up to something. They have bloodshed and violence on their minds as this is election season. They are inciting farmers by following them even in mandis,” the chief minister said, adding that his government was ready to tackle the situation.
Protests again
Farmers in the state are set to take to the streets between June 1 and June 10. The protest has been called by the Rashtriya Kisan Majdoor Mahasangh. Its national president Shiv Kumar says they want the MP government to rollback its Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana — a scheme to pay farmers the difference between the minimum support price (MSP) and market price of produce. Kumar alleges that the scheme has drawbacks.
Other demands include an assurance of MSP, accurate weighing of produce, the lifting on the ban on hand pumps and payment of the insurance amount of 2016.
The proposed protests come nearly a year after the Mandsaur firing in June last year. Back then, the farmer unrest had spread to nine districts in the state’s Malwa region. The farmers were protesting poor prices for onion crop after a bumper harvest, and a shortage of cash post demonetisation.
Caught off guard then, the BJP is taking no chances this time around. The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that Union minister and election incharge Narendra Singh Tomar along with state organisation secretary and newly-appointed state party president Rakesh Singh remained huddled in a meeting for hours Friday.
Sources said that along with discussing the impending farmer protests, which the duo believes is being supported by the Congress, they also chalked out a strategy to bring dissidents back into the party fold. After the meeting, Rakesh Singh, also the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha, accused the Congress of using every method to spread unrest.
“We believe that farmers are not behind this protest. Last time also we found out that some Congress leaders instigated farmers in Mandsaur. The CM had then travelled to Mandsaur and Nimar and was welcomed there,” Singh added.
Ghost of Mandsaur
Chouhan insisted that the Mandsaur incident was not a farmers’ rebellion. “It was due to the involvement of political and non- political anti-social elements that created a situation so grave that the unfortunate Mandsaur incident happened. These elements have vested interests,” the chief minister said.
He, however, admitted that agitating farmers had been facing problems. “The rates of produce went down by half but it was due to international pricing and market fluctuations. Even then we gave them MSP and additional financial support,” he said.
Opposition divided: CM
Speaking to ThePrint about the impending challenge before the BJP at a politically sensitive time, Chouhan said his performance would bring the BJP back to power. He also dismissed suggestions that the Congress’ Madhya Pradesh unit, wracked by infighting, was finally uniting.
“I travel extensively and I have seen hoardings and posters of Kamal Nath sarkar, Digvijaya sarkar and Scindhia sarkar. What unity are people talking about?” the CM asked, referring to the three top Congress leaders in the state — the state unit president Kamal Nath, and senior party leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh.
The chief minister also stressed that voters now only vote for development and that his government had done enough in this regard. “Gone are the days when people voted on a face, names and other criteria. Now people vote on the basis of performance. As for us, we have come out with so many schemes for girls, women and farmers that we can say we have a mandate,” Chouhan said.
Sources in the BJP, however, said that the party’s famed cadre is disintegrating. “The workers have been sidelined and they are being poached by the Congress. From where do you think the Congress has got this hype in the state?” asked a senior BJP leader.
The chief minister also stressed that voters now only vote for development and that his government had done enough in this regard. “Gone are the days when people voted on a face, names and other criteria. Now people vote on the basis of performance. As for us, we have come out with so many schemes for girls, women and farmers that we can say we have a mandate,” Chouhan said.
Sources in the BJP, however, said that the party’s famed cadre is disintegrating. “The workers have been sidelined and they are being poached by the Congress. From where do you think the Congress has got this hype in the state?” asked a senior BJP leader.