Time stands still as Kisan, Tyagi hold Mahapanchayats
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 22: Tyagis from several states descended in Noida yesterday to hold Mahapanchayat against community being given bad name.
A day later farmers from Delhi’s neighbouring states came to Jantar Mantar, a sleepy street for several years, which wakes up about 18 months before the Lok Sabha elections.
A woman in a high scale society in Noida stood to the thuggery of Shrikant Tyagi.
The local BJP MP Mahesh Sharma had to turn his anger against Tyagi, for the voters in the gated societies can seal his fate in the Lok Sabha elections.
Tyagi had to run, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had to chase him.
Finally, the Noida Police won the contest, and nabbed the rookie caste politician.
He delighted the video-watching nation with his antics, but Tyagi community is livid.
The youth of the Tyagi community saw messages on Facebook and WhatsApp forward. They hurriedly called meeting in villages, and decided to rush to Noida, for the prestige of the community was at the stake.
Farming in Haryana, Punjab, and western Uttar Pradesh is said to be in existential crisis.
Yet, the farmers in these regions have rejected all attempts to go for diversification of crops. Rather, they pressurize politicians to get more sugar mills.
Water and electricity are in abundance. The farmers have luxury to sow water guzzler crops. They don’t consume rice, but will grow paddy. They cannot shift from sugarcane cultivation.
“Tell me one crop that can guarantee Rs 80,000 per acre profit, and I will not grow sugarcane,” a Union Minister told a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture when he was informed that the Central government as a policy discourages the cultivation of sugarcane.
The farmers on Monday broke the barricades to hold the Mahapanchayat. Hookahs come along. Rules of law surrender to such farmers when they decide to ride tractors to the national capital.
They want a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP). This is the principal demand of such farmers. Even the farmer wing of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh also believes that there should be a legal guarantee of MSP.
The policy czars in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre have been convinced since 2014 that the MSP regime is a legacy worth burying in the Bay of Bengal.
India is no more a foodgrains importing nation though exceptions for pulses and oilseeds exist.
In fact, Indian agriculture is even climate resilient.
The MSP regime is an incentive for the farmers to grow a few traditional crops. Why should government incentivize farmers for growing wheat and paddy? They’re already being grown in abundance.
And, why should taxpayers incentivize farmers whose sons and daughters whiz past in sports cars?
But there is no politician in the country who has the strength to call the bluff of such farmers.
That woman in Noida could indeed be an answer to the thuggery of the baggage of an entitled class in the neighbourhood of Delhi.
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