RSS affiliate supports farmers’ demands on MSP but says against ‘violent agitation’

Mishra went on to add that people are free to pursue their political ambitions but not at the cost of farmers. “We reiterate that remunerative prices based on the cost is the farmers’ right and they should get it,” he added.

The BKS Mahamantri, speaking to The Indian Express, said the BKS avoids using the term MSP and roots for remunerative prices for farmers based on their input costs.

Interestingly, the BKS has earlier supported the idea of a law guaranteeing MSP to farmers, which is one of the top demands in the ongoing agitation. However, with Lok Sabha elections just round the corner, the RSS affiliate seems to have issued a calibrated response.

In September 2020, when the now-repealed farm laws were being introduced in the Rajya Sabha as Bills amid protests by farmers in Delhi, the BKS had opposed them in their “current form”. The RSS affiliate, in its suggestions to the government at the time, had stressed that traders must be mandated to buy produce from farmers at prices not less than the MSP.

“The Bills are yet to be discussed in the Rajya Sabha. We urge that they are sent to a Standing Committee so that there is adequate discussion. If MSP cannot be included in these Bills, the government should bring another law,” BKS General Secretary Dinesh Kulkarni had told The Indian Express.

The BKS had, in letters to then Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, had also expressed doubts whether the government’s ordinance would ensure farmers get the right prices for their produce.

Again in September 2021, as farmers of West UP held a mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, where they gave a call to defeat the BJP, the BKS said a country-wide protest would be launched demanding a law to ensure MSP for all farmers. It had also urged the government to take a “sympathetic view” of the farmers’ demands.

“MSP is an illusion as farmers in all parts of the country are not getting it. A new stringent law should be brought in to ensure farmers get remunerative prices for their produce,” BKS National President Badrinarayan Choudhary had said.

As the Congress promised “legal guarantee for MSP” for farmers if the INDIA bloc is voted to power, the BKS underlined the “political interests” behind the current agitation.

“It hurts when some people with political intentions use the farmers’ shoulders to further their interests. The BKS believes farmers suffer the most when a political movement is carried out in their name. The movements in Delhi and Mandsaur are proof of this. BKS insists that election manoeuvres in the name of farmers must be stopped,” Mishra said