Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, January 11
BJP’s Punjab unit president Sunil Jakhar has raised questions on the benefits to the farmers of Punjab due to the implementation of MSP on crops across the country. Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal is on a fast to death at the Khanuri border to demand a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) and other demands. Expressing concern over Dallewal’s deteriorating health, he has demanded an immediate meeting of the Legislative Assembly to discuss the issue of MSP. During a special interview here, Jakhar said, “During the Vidhan Sabha session, there should be a discussion about the benefits and harms of the demand for legal guarantee of MSP in the context of Punjab so that everyone, including the agitating farmers, can be enlightened about it.” It should also be clear why the organizations supporting the 2020-21 Kisan Andolan are not involved in these protests. Traders and businessmen are also suffering due to the agitation, which should also be answered.” Jakhar also said that the MSP guarantee is not a guarantee of increased income, which the farmers of Punjab desperately need. He said that the demand for a statutory MSP guarantee could become a case of ‘the cure being worse than the disease’ in the context of Punjab. It is like self-medicating without paying attention to the disease or its symptoms. In my view, the statutory MSP guarantee will prove detrimental to the interests of Punjab. He said that the farmers of Punjab and Haryana are given MSP by the Center on the purchase of wheat and paddy, but with the implementation of MSP at the national level, the farmers of Punjab will lose the special benefits they get under the current system. The BJP leader said, “If the legal guarantee of MSP is implemented across the country, Punjab will also come under the per acre purchase rule of the Centre, like other states. We need to be careful with what we are demanding today because we may not regret it later.” Jakhar said that Punjab needs a lot of crop diversification. When asked about the solution to the problem, Jakhar said that the farmers of Punjab are disappointed and as the ground water level of the state is going down further, the farmers should focus on planting other crops instead of paddy. He said that farmers of Punjab should be assured of getting income from other crops as much as wheat and paddy. He said that this is not possible without financial support from the central and state governments. The BJP president also said that why the AAP-led state government is not drafting its agriculture and market policy. Jakhar said, “You have canceled the Centre’s policy. Why don’t you make your own policy? After all, agriculture is the subject of the state.” Jakhar said that the farmers of Punjab need to consider what is best in their interest and what they are fighting for.
Union Ministers asked to talk to Dallewal
Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Delhi. He asked the Union Ministers to talk to farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on a fast to death at the Khanuri border in Punjab, so that his fast to death can be broken.