Congress doesn't want to let go of the issue. Whether the fragmented party can draw any mileage from the situation is another matter
Madhya Pradesh has entered a new kind of 'fast lane'.
Just after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ended his 28-hour fast to pacify the farmers, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia announced his plan to stage a 72-hour satyagraha from June 14 in Bhopal to counter the CM's 'fast for peace'. Scindia, a former union minister and Lok Sabha member, will first head for Mandsaur to meet the relatives of six killed in police firing last week before sitting on the satyagraha. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to reach Mandsaur the day after the firing incident.
Congress doesn't want to let go of the issue. Whether the fragmented party can draw any mileage from the situation is another matter.
Though the CM announced the agreement with one section of the farmer leaders, who obliged by calling off the agitation, the dominant section led by Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh Shiv Kumar Sharma 'Kakkaji' announced its continuation. Initially, the agitation was meant to end on June 10.
However, Kakkaji said 62 farmers' unions decided at a meeting in New Delhi's Gandhi Peace Foundaton to carry forward the agitation raging in Madhya Pradesh.
The unions would intensify their agitation with a blockade of national highways planned for June 16. They will also demand the dismissal of Chouhan's government for failing to address the grievances of farmers.
The BKMS claim is partly established by the fact the life hasn't returned to normal. Stakes are high for the BKMS as tapering off of the stir would erode its support base. By shifting the focus to Delhi the BKMS might have let the Chouhan government off the hook, but for its own sake it would want to keep the pot boiling.
Stakes are high for a diabetic Shivraj Singh Chouhan too as he singularly took the decision to go on a dramatic fast and ended it equally dramatically by getting the firing victims to cajole him for it.
But, with the Centre refusing to shoulder the burden of loan waivers for the farmers, the states will have to find their own resources to meet the challenge.
Madhya Pradesh government not only charges no interest on the loan but also writes off 10 per cent of it under the present terms. If the states were to write off the entire sum, it would need to raise an estimated Rs 45,000 crore. The state is already reeling under an overdraft of Rs 1,65,000 crore. The states are allowed to borrow up to three per cent of their GDP.
That almost makes it impossible for Chouhan to tread further on this track. But the farmers should draw consolation from the proposed settlement scheme to bring loan defaulters under the credit net again to enable them to get interest-free loans.
It needs no great political acumen to realise that Chouhan's rivals within the party have been active and chuckling over his discomfiture. They would continue to test him through the agitation through the week ahead. All in all the farmer in Madhya Pradesh is reduced to a bemused spectator in the political tussle over the issue.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Jyotiraditya Scindia")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}