Coinciding with Presidential elections, the farmers' protests in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and other states has come a lifeline for the Opposition to put up a united face against the government.
Over the past few days, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri held separate meetings with Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav at his residence and discussed how to corner the BJP and the government on the farmers' issue. Such was the camaraderie that Rahul took Yadav along with him by a flight to Rajasthan from where they unsuccessfully tried to enter Mandsaur, the fulcrum of farm protests in the MP.
Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar had also met Prime Minister Modi last week to raise the issue of farmers. He told the PM that farmers are agitated that the waiver of the loan to Uttar Pradesh farmers was not being extended to other states. He said there has been maximum suicides by farmers in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and hence the need to waive their loans.
A day after Pawar-led panel met here for the first time to coordinate the Opposition strategy in fielding consensus candidates for the elections to the post of the President and the Vice-President, its members, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav held consultations with Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal separately on Saturday. Yadav said they discussed the countrywide farmer protests and also sought his support for Presidential polls. He also wooed Raju Shetti, a BJP ally and Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra, and the both are scheduled to meet in Delhi on Wednesday.
Emboldened by continuing protests, the Opposition leaders said they are mulling a 'Bharat Bandh' on the issue of farmers. The dates could coincide the monsoon session of Parliament to be convened after the Presidential elections. Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot said the protests by farmers were quite natural after they (BJP) announced a Rs 36,000-crore loan waiver for Uttar Pradesh. "It was quite natural that there would be similar demands from other states as well," he said. He said the BJP's allegation that the Congress was inciting farmers to protest was irresponsible. "When we were in power, they [the BJP] blamed us. Now we are in Opposition, they still blame us? How insensitive and irresponsible is this? It is their government, their police and their administration. How are we to be blamed?" But the BJP national Vice-President and Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha, said the Congress which is virtually dead in MP has sensed to revive itself by cashing on farmers' anger. Many also blame Patidar community leader Hardik Patel as well, as the region which has emerged as the fulcrum of agitation is dominated by the community.
Prime Minister Modi had targeted doubling farm income by 2022. Of late, however, the reluctance of states to implement key reforms has clouded his government's plans. Agricultural growth in India had contracted 0.2 percent in 2014-15 and grew no more than 1.2 percent in 2015-16, largely because of back-to-back droughts.
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