Farmers’ leader Raju Shetti takes MSP battle to northeast India

Shetti, who addressed multiple meetings in the capital of Meghalaya along with farm leader V M Singh, said he was willing to visit the area again to ensure the message on MSP reaches the masses.

After the initial consultation, Shetti said they asked supporters to spread out in the villages. Every gram sabha, he said, has been asked to adopt a resolution asking the central government to legalise the payment of MSP. “This would be the first time that the gram sabhas would be passing a resolution for a law,” he said, adding that they have so far got 400 such resolutions from villages in Maharashtra.

Shetti said farm leaders in Shillong held a two-day conference in which the need to get resolutions passed in gram sabhas was discussed. The region has a strong agricultural community but it lacked mature agricultural movements, he said.

“There are issues related to bamboo, paddy and millets but these are not raised at the right levels,” he added. The Shillong visit was a result of Shetti’s previous meeting with farm leaders during initial consultations about the law on MSP.

Farm leaders, he said, will meet President Ram Nath Kovind in October with the gram sabha resolutions to press for appropriate intervention to get the law passed.