AAP govts at two ends, BJP-led Haryana in middle: Farmer protest ripe for politics

Among other things, the farmers are seeking MSP guarantee for 23 crops, waiver of their debts and withdrawal of cases registered against them during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation. The Centre, which burnt its hands with that agitation, which lasted a year on Delhi’s borders and ended only after the scrapping of the three farm laws, held two rounds of meetings with farmer leaders in a bid to stall the march, without success.

On Tuesday, as clashes erupted and the Opposition parties criticised the Centre, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said the MSP law cannot be brought in a hurry and the farmers should come forward for talks with the government.

The BJP would not want the farmer protest to blow up so close to the Lok Sabha elections. One of the reasons for its recent tie-up with the RLD, given its base among farmers, was assuaging residual farmer anger over the last protest. The Centre also sent another message to farmers, across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, with its Bharat Ratna to the late Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Police use tear gas shells to disperse farmers during their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march at Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border, near Patiala, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (PTI Photo)

In 2020, after the Punjab government then led by the Congress had not made any effort to stop the farmers from reaching Delhi, the BJP had accused then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of complicity. It had said the Congress was trying to instigate the farmers with an eye on the Assembly elections due in 2022.

Sources in the Punjab government confirmed that this time too, the police had not been given any instructions regarding stopping the latest farmers’ march.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also been quiet, though he had attacked farmers during the previous protest for stopping trains and inconveniencing people.

Incidentally, on Friday, Mann was roped in by the Centre to act as a mediator in talks held between farmer organisations and its ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai. After the meeting, Mann said he had tried his best to reach a resolution.

Security personnel use teargas to disperse farmers at the Shambhu border on Tuesday. Kamleshwar Singh

For the second round of talks on Monday, Mann sent his Cabinet colleague Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, but this meeting too remained inconclusive.

On Tuesday, anger at the farmer protest sites was reserved for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Some asked why “Haryana is behaving like Pakistan”. “Just look at the multi-tier barricading. There are boulders, nails, barbed wire, steel walls and and then tear gas shells,” a farmer said.

Jagjit Singh Dalewal of the Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) and the convenor of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) said: “What are we doing? We just want to reach Delhi and organise a peaceful protest. We have promised we will not harm anyone. Why are they not allowing us free passage?”

Accusing the AAP government of “instigating” farmers, Haryana Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar said it was all politics. “The AAP is actually not talking about farmers’ rights. Only the BJP is doing that,” Gujjar claimed.

Police use tear gas shells to disperse farmers gathered at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border during their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Dismissing this, AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said: “Why would we instigate anyone? Are farmers not aware that their demands have not been met? It was a commitment made by the Prime Minister himself two years ago, and never fulfilled.”

Kang also pointed out that Mann had tried to broker peace. “But he saw that the BJP was not flexible. They did not have any intention to fulfill farmers’ demands… Now, the Central ministers are behaving in the same way as they were doing earlier.”

Kang added that Punjab had no reason to stop the farmers. “They have genuine demands. If their demands are not met now, they will raise the same during election time.”