Poppy Politics

IN Himachal Pradesh, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have found common ground in the poppy fields of Mandi’s Chuhar Valley....

IN Himachal Pradesh, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have found common ground in the poppy fields of Mandi’s Chuhar Valley. Both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP are advocating legalisation of poppy cultivation. The issue came up following a massive operation launched by the Customs Department and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recently in the valley.

BJP leaders said that if a Congress deputation asks the Centre to legalise poppy cultivation, it would have its support as such a move would benefit the local people.

With an eye on the parliamentary elections due next year, sitting BJP MP from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, Maheshwar Singh, doesn’t fail to broach the subject in any of his speeches.

Last month Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, whose wife Pratibha Singh will be the main contender for the party ticket for the Lok Sabha seat, held a public meeting in the valley in which he assured the people that the government would take all steps to legalise poppy cultivation.

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Virbhadra vehemently criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for not cooperating with them in resolving this issue. At a press conference last week, former chief minister and leader of the opposition in Himachal Assembly, Prem Kumar Dhumal, came down heavily upon Virbhadra for targetting his party for lack of support: ‘‘It was us who brought a resolution in the Assembly to provide the crop a legal status, but the initiative was thwarted by Congress MLAs.’’

The votebank of the valley that’s spread over 100 Km along the Uhl rivulet has prompted the rival parties to pose as champions of the poppy cause. ‘‘More than 20,000 farming families are directly dependent on the crop. If poppy is legalised they would earn their livelihood honestly,’’ says Maheshwar Singh.

The Himachal government wants to follow the example of some states where poppy is grown under the surveillance of the Narcotics Control Bureau

All politicians, however, deny that politics was prompting both parties to pose as well-wishers of the farmer and that they were both trying to outshine each other in this attempt.

The recent raids by the Customs Department and the NCB brought the focus again on the issue. According to Customs and NCB officials, over 1,757 bighas of land was cleared of poppy in the operation that ran for over three months. The local panchayats collectively approached political parties for help.

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The popularity of poppy as a crop is easy to understand. One kg of poppy seeds fetch the farmers anything from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 in the illegal market in north India. Amritsar and Bathinda in Punjab had become the transit points for poppy.

The Himachal government wants to emulate the policy of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where poppy is grown under the surveillance of the Customs and NCB.