In Rajya Sabha, government, Opposition trade charges on farmer distress

Digvijaya Singh said the MP farmers had faced bullets on the centenary of the Champaran agitation, in which Mahatma Gandhi had raised his voice against British exploitation

Congress MP Digvijay Singh speaks in the Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI Photo / TV GRAB)

A discussion on the agrarian crisis, in the Rajya Sabha, turned into a blame-game, with the Opposition and the ruling BJP accusing each other of being responsible for farmer suicides. The short duration discussion, initiated by the Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, also saw demands for a special Parliament session to debate the issue, as well as calls for a special legislation to address challenges faced by farmers.

Opposition members rued the lack of measures from the Centre to address the crisis and reeled out figures of farmers suicides numbering “3.18 lakh during the last 21 years”. Singh targetted the NDA government over the agrarian distress and singled out the police firing on agitating farmers at Mandsaur, in his home state of Madhya Pradesh, which led to five deaths. The Congress leader said the MP farmers had faced bullets on the centenary of the Champaran agitation, in which Mahatma Gandhi had raised his voice against British exploitation.

Singh termed the imposition of import-export duties on foodgrains as one of the biggest scams. He added that despite a bumper crop, import duty on wheat was reduced initially to 10 per cent from 25 per cent and then to zero in December, impacting farmers adversely as imported wheat was available at cheaper prices. Foodgrain imports, which stood at Rs 134 crore in 2014-15, have risen to Rs 9,009 crore now, he said. Singh alleged that it was the wrong import-export policies which had led to imports of Rs 1,40,268 crore in 2015-16 as against Rs 56,000 crore in 2011-12.

Making light of the presence of Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in the House, Singh said that ministers have no power in the NDA regime, whose motto of “minimum government is the PMO”. The BJP’s Prabhat Jha hit back, reminding Singh that 24 farmers were shot dead in Madhya Pradesh on January 24, 1998, when he was the chief minister. He also accused Singh of politicising the Mandsaur incident.

The sparring between the duo prompted Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party to remark that it felt like the House was the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Derek O’ Brien (Trinamool Congress) said that instead of the “tu-tu-main-main” on Madhya Pradesh, there was a need to look at the West Bengal model on farmers.

Nominated member MP Veerendra Kumar termed agrarian suicides as a “shameful feature on India’s social scene” and rued that while one gets a low interest loan to buy a car, a farmer has to give 10 to 12 per cent loan to buy a tractor. He alleged that during the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the allocation for agricultural sector was Rs.1.8 lakh crore. Prasanna Acharya (BJD) said farmers were not demanding five-star hotels or swimming pools and food malls but just a good, remunerative prices for their produce.

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