Why don’t farmers protest against AAP govt over MSP bonus: Jakhar
According to Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, the AAP government in Punjab promised to pay ₹20,000 per acre compensation for crop damages during floods last year but the farmers received just ₹6,800 per acre which the Centre had allocated out of the disaster relief fund.
Chandigarh
Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said the issues of agitating farmers can only be addressed by the next BJP-led government at the Centre.
Addressing a press conference here, Jakhar questioned farmer leaders for only protesting against the BJP-led central government and not cornering the AAP government in the state to press for bonus on MSP and non-payment of compensation for the damaged crops.
Jakhar’s statement came amid BJP candidates facing protests from farmers during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
As part of the protests, farmers ask questions to BJP leaders and show them black flags for failing to fulfil their demands.
Jakhar said the AAP government in Punjab promised to pay ₹20,000 per acre compensation for crop damages during floods last year but the farmers received just ₹6,800 per acre which the Centre had allocated out of the disaster relief fund.
Why are they silent on ₹20,000 compensation and why no protest against CM Bhagwant Mann was being held, Jakhar asked farmer leaders.
The state BJP chief also underlined a slew of “farmers-friendly” measures initiated by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, seeking to debunk the “false” narrative being scripted by the AAP and Congress in Punjab to divert attention from their “failures”.
Jakhar cited a huge upsurge in pay out to farmers in the state by the Centre, saying the increase in payments were in line with the BJP’s commitment to double the farmers’ income.
“In 2014, farmers were paid ₹32,211 crore of minimum support price for both paddy and wheat crops. After a decade of the BJP’s rule at the Centre, farmers received ₹70,385 crore for both the crops, which is more than double,” he said.
Jakhar claimed that the budget for agriculture in 10 years of the Modi government has been hiked from ₹21,900 crore to ₹1.25 lakh crore in 2024.
On raising income of farmers, he said the BJP-led governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are giving ₹125 per quintal as bonus on wheat MSP.
Jakhar asked why the AAP government is not giving the same bonus to farmers in Punjab. “Why don’t they give? Nobody speaks about it,” he said, adding that why are farmer unions not holding protests against CM Mann to seek bonus on MSP.
Speaking about the Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the BJP leader claimed the Centre is giving ₹6,000 per annum to 11 crore farmers annually.
Jakhar added that initially 23 lakh farmers from Punjab were registered for this scheme but their number went down to 8.5 lakh, which means nearly 15 lakh farmers are not getting benefits worth ₹900 crore per annum. He alleged that the AAP government failed to get the farmers’ KYC done which led to depriving 15 lakh farmers from availing the benefits of this scheme.
The state BJP chief also condemned the recent incident in Barnala where a farmer union members clashed with traders over an alleged immigration fraud case. “This vigilantism by farmers is unacceptable. They don’t raise genuine issues of farmers but resort to such violent ways. Why didn’t they protest at Bhagwant Mann’s doorsteps? The onus lies on the Mann government to check any immigration wrongdoing, if any,” he said.
