Sugar-coated polls

The only region where the Congress managed to retain its hold was Western Maharashtra: 12 of the 15 seats it won in the 11th Lok Sabha came from this region. And sugar politics had played a major role in saving the Congress from a complete washout.

But this time round, the Congress cannot depend on the sugar belt for survival. The sugar barons might not hold quite as much sway over the farmers as in the past. For among the most significant developments between the last Lok Sabha elections and the coming one is a move by the Maharashtra Government to liberate cane farmers from the barons.

Following a complaint by Shetkari Sangathana leader Sharad Joshi, the State Government appointed a committee under Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde seeking to free captive cane farms from the barons controlling the sugar co-operatives.

As per previous laws, cane-growers, who were members of the cooperatives, had to pledge all their cane to the particular factories. This was said to protect the interests of both the factories as well as the farmers: the best recovery of sugar is said to be had from cane crushed within 24 hours of harvest. So while this process, "zoning", assured the farmers of a sure return on their cane, it also had the factories working without pause during the crushing season from October to April.

But zoning was always a double-edged sword: if a particular sugar baron found the results of elections, from the Panchayat Samiti to the Lok Sabha, going against him, he often refrained from crushing cane from villages that had voted against his interests. Farmers’ returns thus dropped as sugar recovery was minimal when the cane was finally crushed after weeks or even months.

Moreover, the fixed price for sugarcane procurement was paid out to farmers in instalments. He was thus totally dependent on the goodwill of the sugar baron.

The State Government’s dezoning scheme, however, allows that a minimum of two acres per farmer should be pledged to the sugar factories. And if the farmer had projected excess cane production, he should be free to sell it to any factory of his choice.

Sugar barons went up in arms and moved the court. The Bombay High Court, however, ruled that the Munde award was a fair one. They appealed in the Supreme Court where the case rests at the moment.

It has, however, shown both the farmers and the Sena-BJP a way to loosen the grip of Congress strongmen on sugar co-operatives. Although severalsugar barons switched loyalties to the Sena-BJP alliance, they are nevertheless unanimous in their opposition to the award which stands to free farmers and voters from exploitation.

The sugar barons also fear that the award might be used by rivals to drive their factory out of business and they would then abandon the farmers who are now protected by captive irrigation schemes, seeding and crop insurance paid for by the factories.

The effect on the Lok Sabha elections in February is thus likely to be a toss-up. For until the farmers are sure that they cannot be victimised at a later date, they are still likely to vote for their own financial rather than political interests.

Knowing this well, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Atal Behari Vajpayee in his first campaign speech in Maharashtra has promised crop insurance and protection against the vagaries of natural calamities to farmers, should the BJP come to power at the Centre.

But the Congress is now fighting with its back against the wall to protect its last bastion. And it has more than the Sena-BJP alliance to fight.

The dezoning award was made at the behest of Sharad Joshi who argued that even farmers deserved the fruits of liberalisation. Since then, however, Joshi has shown his proximity to the Sena-BJP alliance, particularly the Sena.

And Joshi is credited for the failure of the Congress rally in Nagpur on December 15. The party had hoped to mobilise mostly farmers and promised a morcha of five lakh. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said they could not motivate even 50,000, while the Congress claimed to have mobilised more than one-and-a-half lakh.

The Congress blamed Sharad Joshi. Ranjit Deshmukh, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president, said it was because of the roadblocks that their supporters had to face on all the highways leading to Nagpur. The blockade was put up by Sharad Joshi’s Shetkari Sangathana, two days before the rally after the unseasonal rains that had destroyed crops. Two farmers were killed in the subsequent police firing.

But if the claim of a conspiracy between the Shetkari Sangathana and the Shiv Sena appeared far-fetched, the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections proved that the two had been working in tandem against the Congress. Sharad Joshi wishes to contest the elections from Western Maharashtra with Sena support. The Sena has refused the support unless he fights on their ticket. Joshi has cried foul and there is a stalemate. "Sharad Joshi and the Sena have proved that they do not mind sacrificing farmers’ lives for their own petty political interests," said Deshmukh.

The Congress campaign against the State Government’s policies are focussed on the funds. Farmers have had a tough time this year with little funds released by the Government for the procurement of their crops. The Congress is bandying this as evidence that a bankrupt government cares little for the farmers.

The Congress has had some good news recently: after losing heavily at the Malegaon sugar co-operative election in Baramati last year, Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, succeeded in routing the supporters of Harshavardhan Patil, a minister in the Joshi cabinet, at the recent elections to the board of the Indapur sugar factory, also in Baramati. While the ruling alliance hopes the dezoning will make the farmers vote in their favour, the Congress is keeping its fingers crossed.