Onion farmers and traders call off stir as union minister steps in, grabs spotlight

MUMBAI: After the three-day agitation by farmers and traders in north Maharashtra, in protest of the Centre’s imposition of 40% duty on onion export, it will be business as usual on Thursday. Wholesale onion markets in Lasalgaon, India’s largest supplier in Nashik district, and other parts of Maharashtra will be open for auction.

The impasse between the government and traders broke on Wednesday, after a meeting between minister of state for public health and family welfare from Dindori, Nashik, Dr Bharati Pawar, officials from NAFED and APMCs, and representatives of traders, exporters and farmers. “We had heated debates about the central government’s decision, but the traders have agreed today to start all the APMC markets in Nashik district for the benefit of the farmers,” said Pawar.

While the mandate on export holds good, Pawar assured traders and farmers that NAFED will purchase the kitchen staple from farmers at ₹2,410 per quintal. Apart from this, the minister also said the Centre “will look into their demand of releasing the stocks held up at various ports and the India-Bangladesh border, without export duty”.

As soon as the agitation took off on Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wasted no time and put MP Bharati Pawar on the task to pacify the farmers. While she is active at the grassroots level, this was Pawar’s first opportunity to work through a national crisis.

It was no small win, as the uproar among farmers intensified after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar threw his weight behind their cause. He was the first politician who spoke against the government decision, and appointed MP Amol Kolhe to lead the protest by taking to the streets. To counter this force, Bharati Pawar cut short her earlier planned Delhi visit to camp in Nashik for the last three days till the protesters relented on Wednesday.

She held meetings with disgruntled farmers and traders groups, while staying “in touch with the union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and home minister Amit Shah to appraise them about the development on ground”. She said, “I had requested them to procure onions by paying a reasonable price of over ₹2,000 per quintal. It was heard, following which the government decided to procure 2 lakh tonnes at ₹2,410.”

A BJP leader added that it was the priority of the “party and its ruling partners to pacify the farmers and showcase that the BJP government is sympathetic about them”. While the minister dialogued with the protesters, “deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis swung into action on Tuesday morning as well”. “The announcement of the procurement came through him. This was part of the party’s strategy to gain credit out of the situation,” said the leader.

It was also an attempt to establish Bharati Pawar’s leadership in north Maharashtra, as the BJP’s presence is visible only in some sections in that part of the state. A party leader from Nashik however voiced his skepticism about the union minister benefitting from this success, as through the unrest she tried to convince the farmers about the union government’s decision on the import duty, arguing that it would work to their benefit. “As a local MP she should have spoken in favour of farmers and not advocate the government decision. She had faced the wrath of the farmers in March when the prices of the onion had crashed and she had tried to intervene. All this may not benefit her politically,” said the BJP leader.

Party insiders also said, while she was advocating Centre’s decision, Chhagan Bhujbal from the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP criticized the mandate and gained sympathy among farmers and traders.

Political analyst Hemant Desai said, “Knowingly or unknowingly she had goofed up by her statement. During the pandemic as well, she was criticized by the then Thackeray government as she upheld the central government’s performance. Looking at the reaction from the farmers, the union minister is unlikely to benefit from the episode.”

Who is Bharati Pawar?

Pawar, 44, is the daughter-in-law of eight-term NCP MLA from Nashik AT Pawar. She is a first-time MP. She had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 elections as an NCP candidate, after which she jumped ship to join the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when NCP denied her a ticket. She defeated NCP candidate Dhanraj Mahale by over 1.99 lakh votes.

Pawar started her political career as a district council member. After the demise of AT Pawar in 2017, his son Nitin, and Bharati, the wife of another son took forward his thought. Nitin is NCP MLA from Kalwan, a district in Nashik, while his wife Jayashree was former district council chairman. There were differences within the family and Bharati Pawar’s candidature to Lok Sabha in 2019 was opposed by Nitin and his family.

“Bharati, who is an MBBS degree holder, was inducted in the union cabinet in July 2021 during the expansion of the Modi cabinet in his second term. Her elevation had surprised many in northern Maharashtra as Heena Gavit, a two-term MP from Nandurbar, was seen as the natural pick from Maharashtra. The internal differences in state BJP played in Bharati’s favour,” said a BJP leader from Nashik.