Procurement crisis becomes a political minefield for AAP

The paddy procurement crisis in Punjab is fast becoming a political minefield for the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government ahead of crucial byelections to four assembly constituencies.

With farmers, frustrated by the tardy lifting of paddy stocks and mismanagement, are blocking roads and rail tracks and staging sit-ins outside the mandis (grain markets), the state government finds itself on the back foot in what has become its biggest administrative challenge since coming to power about two-and-a-half years ago. Farmers are also threatening to launch a full-blown agitation, along the lines of the 2020-21 protest, if immediate steps are not taken to ensure smooth procurement of their produce.

Govt faces farmers’ ire

The farmer unions, whose ire was largely directed at the BJP government at the Centre in recent years, have turned their focus this time to the AAP government as well, organising protests outside the houses of the chief minister, ministers and MLAs. “This is a serious situation. Though there have been procurement issues in the past also, but the scale of the problem now seems unprecedented. The mandis are overflowing and the procured paddy is not being lifted. Slow movement of grains from the previous years to other states has created a space shortage in godowns and the millers are refusing to take paddy. There are established and time-tested procedures in place, and this situation should not have arisen,” said a senior bureaucrat, who handled the procurement operations for several years in the past, speaking on the condition of anonymity and hinting towards a lack of proper planning and timely action.

Another IAS officer said the state government urgently needs to take visible steps to find and hire storage space for the short-term and to press the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to expedite the movement of rice to its facilities in other states. The situation is also challenging because only a quarter of the paddy crop has been harvested so far, and the window for sowing wheat, the main winter crop, is closing shortly. “If this crisis persists, the situation could get really tense,” said one of the persons quoted above.

Grist to the opposition mill

The government is facing flak for the disorder in mandis, fuelling the Opposition’s attacks. The opposition parties, especially the Congress, are targeting the Mann government, accusing it of ‘letting down’ the farmers over issues such as limited storage space and the lower milling out-turn ratio (rice yield) of PR-126 paddy and hybrid varieties, factors which are behind the rice millers’ reluctance to store the paddy procured by state agencies. Leader of Opposition (LOP) Partap Singh Bajwa and other opposition leaders have been crisscrossing the grain markets and condemning the AAP government for ‘mismanagement.’ On Tuesday, Bajwa even challenged the CM to either visit the grain markets to confront the crisis or resign if he is unable to offer a practical solution soon. BJP leader and former CM Capt Amarinder Singh, who counts successful wheat and paddy procurement efforts among his achievements, also reappeared after a gap of two years, and visited the Khanna grain market, where he slammed the state government for the hardships faced by farmers.

AAP passes the buck to Centre

The AAP government has been quick to point the finger at the BJP and the central government for the procurement crisis. Its ministers and other leaders have launched a concerted attack on the BJP, accusing it of exacting revenge on the state’s farmers for their movement against the centre’s three controversial, now-repealed farm laws. AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said that the central government and its policies are to blame for this situation. “They lifted rice from previous years from other states, but not from Punjab, leading to a space shortage and losses to private millers. The chief minister, food minister and senior officers repeatedly raised these issues with the central government and sent letters, but to no avail,” he said.

The procurement crisis has come for the AAP government at a time when it faces a crucial midterm test of its popularity in the November 13 byelections to Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, and Barnala assembly constituencies. These bypolls were initially seen as a chance for the ruling party to reassert its dominance after an underwhelming performance in the April-May parliamentary elections. However, the crisis has sparked protests that are already resonating in several parts of the state. Ashutosh Kumar, a professor of political science at Panjab University, said the procurement crisis could damage the AAP’s prospects in the bypolls, given the growing resentment among the farmers against the state government over this issue. “This blame game would not help it much because, though the procurement for the FCI, it is managed by the state machinery,” he said. However, Garg asserted that the state government was not at fault and that those responsible (a reference to BJP) for the present situation would face repercussions in the byelections.