Campaigning for the Haryana Assembly elections is in full swing. Meanwhile, the central government has once again started discussions with farmers on several pending issues including MSP. On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met representatives of several farmers’ organizations. Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that we will talk to the farmers till the issues are resolved. Chauhan said that this is just the beginning. We will sit down and discuss all the problems and try to find a solution to each problem.
After meeting the farmers, Shivraj Singh Chauhan said, ‘We have received suggestions to strengthen the MSP. We will consider them. On this occasion, the Minister of Agriculture promised that we will meet with the farmers every Tuesday and there will be a discussion with the farmers across the country. Chauhan said that this was the first round of talks and during this the farmers raised issues ranging from insurance scheme to MSP. We have asked them to consider and agreed to continue further discussions. The minister said that while talking to the farmers, we said that serving them is like worshiping God for us.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan has spoken to the farmers at a time when they have gathered in large numbers at the Shambhu border. For almost 200 days, farmers have been standing on the border of Punjab and Haryana demanding permission to go to Delhi. In such a situation, the government’s efforts to negotiate are an attempt to convince them. Especially before the Haryana assembly elections, the government has started talking to the farmers to create a favorable environment for the BJP in the state. It is being said that there is resentment against the BJP in the peasantry of Haryana. This is especially being seen in the areas adjacent to Punjab. In such a situation, the government’s attempt to negotiate with the farmers seems to be not only a strategy to win elections.
The farmers sitting on the Shambhu border were not in the meeting.
Representatives of Bharatiya Kisan Union Apo-Political from UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra participated in this meeting. In this regard, farmer leaders say that we have raised issues like MSP, PM Kisan Saman Nidhi, crop insurance scheme. At present there is an assurance from the government to consider them. However, the meeting did not include any representative of the farmers’ organizations which have been standing on the Shambhu border for the past 7 months.
