Just as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seemed to have tided over the worst phase of the stir that led to six deaths in a firing incident at Mandsaur, and a wave of suicides in 48 hours.
The Madhya Pradesh government's troubles over the farmers' agitation is refusing to subside. Just as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seemed to have tided over the worst phase of the stir that led to six deaths in a firing incident at Mandsaur, and a wave of suicides in 48 hours. Seven farmers have so far committed suicide since June 8. The latest victim was Narmada Prasad of Hoshangabad. A money lender took Rs 45,000 from Prasad after he had just sold some pulses on Wednesday. The money lender also forced the victim to part with his tractor. Prasad allegedly consumed poison to end his life. The National Crime Records Bureau statistics reveal that 18,000 farmers have committed suicide in the past 13 years under the BJP rule. The 2016 figure of 1,982 was the highest.
Chouhan, who sought to placate the farmers by visiting Mandsaur to distribute cheques of Rs 1crore each to the kin of the six victims who died in the firing incident, stayed put in the region. With protests continuing in the town, the collector announced that the money would be credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries. The farmers were demanding action against the policemen who opened fired on them. Chouhan promised that the police inspector who ordered the firing would be dismissed. Strangely, however, no FIR was filed against the police officers till Thursday.
The farmers were also angry that the minister-in-charge, Archana Chitnis, rarely visited the district. She had not met them and the party leaders of the region for quite some time. She had also failed to organise a meeting between relatives of the firing victims and the CM. Chitnis, who was supposed to accompany Chouhan on the Mandsaur trip, left for Bengaluru saying she was asked by the central leadership to participate in the Modi Fest there. Public Relations Minister Narottam Mishra eventually pacified the farmers and got them to meet Chouhan.
The Modi Fest — to mark three years of the NDA government at the Centre — under which farmers are being cultivated by the party turned ugly in Balaghat where the state Agriculture Minister Gauri Shankar Bisen and the party MP Bodh Singh Bhagat almost came to blows. Bisen left the function midway.
There is growing realisation in the ruling party and the government that the officials of the cooperative and agriculture departments, and party members, have been misleading the government and party leaders about ground realities on farming sector.
Political expediency has side-tracked the administrative urgency as party workers drum up support for the party in the run-up to the next assembly elections in 2018. The way MLAs were tasked to herd up farmers to show support for the fasting CM left a bad impression on the farmers. The ruling party may have allowed the Congress to revive itself with a clumsy handling of the agitation. The Congress may have just made it in time to show its support among farmers. Next week, the farmers will be busy with sowing, and such rallies wouldn't interest them.
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