Farmers before party? JJP MLA again steps over party line, quits Haryana federation post

Farmer support was crucial in the JJP’s performance in the 2019 Assembly elections, when as a new party it had won 10 seats in the 90-member Vidhan Sabha. This had left it in a kingmaker position, with the BJP turning to it after it fell short of a majority.

Before he put in his papers as chairman of Haryana Sugarfed (Haryana State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd), Kala criticised the police lathicharge on farmers protesting for procurement of their sunflower crop seeds at MSP. The MLA from Shahbad, he told the government to accept the demands of farmers within 24 hours or he would quit.

Kala told The Indian Express he had three demands from the government: MSP for sunflower seeds, release of the farmers arrested for the protests, and treatment of those injured in police action. Kala said the farmers were facing a net loss of Rs 600 per quintal in the absence of an MSP for sunflower seeds procurement.

The 54-year-old belongs to Ratingarh village in Kurukshetra district, where a large number of farmers, including in Kala’s constituency, cultivate sunflowers.

The unrest among sunflower growers in the district has been growing, and the June 6 protest was led by farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who also belongs to Kurukshetra.

Now the farmers have announced a big rally in Pipli in the district on June 12 to assert their MSP demand.

What will worry the BJP is that there is already tension between it and the JJP, flaring up now and then as the elections come near. One of the seats which might prove tricky is the Uchana Assembly constituency, from where JJP chief and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala won in 2019, but to which the BJP too has now laid a claim.

Uchana is the traditional seat of Congress-turned-BJP leader Chaudhary Birender Singh. In 2019, Dushyant Chautala had defeated Singh’s wife Prem Lata from Uchana.

One of the main Haryana voices against the Central government over its handling of the wrestler issue is of Birender Singh. In an interview to The Indian Express, conducted before the protesting wrestlers met Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and the two sides hinted at a solution, Birender had suggested that the delay on the issue might be deliberate to tire the other side out.

Kala was elected to the zilla parishad thrice — 2000, 2006 and 2011 – before contesting his first Assembly election as a JJP candidate in 2019. His victory over outgoing state minister Krishan Bedi by a margin of more than 37,000 votes was one of the surprise results of the elections.

In September 2020, Kala met the farmers protesting against the Centre’s farm laws at their agitation site. He stated at the time: “I have assured the farmers that their demands will be raised before the Central and state government.”

Barwala MLA Jogi Ram Sihag was the other JJP MLA who supported the farmers at the time.