Dismayed at the support prices for Kharif crops, farmers' activists on Thursday announced a nation-wide agitation against the Modi government's anti-farmer policies from July 26.
The stir plan was finalised at a meeting of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM), a conglomeration of farmer leaders from across the country led by Shiv Kumar Sharma alias Kakkaji.
“The MSP announced by the government is not as per the 'C2' rate promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The government has not fulfilled the promise made to farmers,” said Sharma, who had spearheaded farmers' protests in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh last year.
Sharma said the RKM will undertake a 'Kisan Adhikar Yatra' from Kashmir to Kanyakumari beginning July 26. “During this yatra, we will make people aware about the anti-farmer policies of the BJP by organising public meetings across the country,” he told reporters here.
The RKM also plans state specific yatras. “If the BJP betrays the farmers, then they will be taught a lesson in the forthcoming elections,” Sharma said.
BJP has been at the receiving end of farmers' wrath ever since it came to power in 2014 and the fresh round of agitation is expected to add to its woes ahead of the year-end assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Agrarian distress
Sharma, who was once associated with the RSS, has been attacking the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government over the alleged increase in farmer's suicides. The farmer's protests in June last year in Mandsaur got widespread support and also led to violence, prompting the state government to open fire on the agitators.
Six farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur, which emerged as a symbol of agrarian distress across the country. The first anniversary of the Mandsaur killings took a political colour with Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressing a huge rally in the region, virtually marking the launch of the party's campaign for the year-end assembly elections.