Announcement not enough, need legal guarantee for MSP: Farmer unions

Senior farmer leaders Gurnam Singh Charuni and Rattan Mann have termed CM Nayab Saini’s announcement regarding ensuring MSP for all 24 crops as a pre-poll sop.

A day after Haryana chief minister Nayab Saini announced that his government will buy all 24 crops on the minimum support price (MSP) in the state, up from the existing 14, the prominent farmer unions in the state have now called for a legal guarantee for the MSP.

Farmers have been camping at the Shambhu border in Patiala district where they have been stopped by the Haryana Police from moving towards Delhi in support of their demands since February this year. (PTI file)

This was a part of five major announcements made by the CM during a rally in Kurukshetra on Sunday, marking the beginning of the BJP’s campaign for assembly elections to be held later this year.

Senior farmer leaders Gurnam Singh Charuni and Rattan Mann termed the announcement as a pre-poll sop. They sought a legal guarantee for the MSP.

Rattan Mann, state president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Tikait), said, “This announcement is not enough because despite MSP, the crops are purchased at low prices. If there is already an MSP for 14 crops, why the government had to introduce Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana?”

He further said, “This is just a pre-poll drama to gain votes. No crop will reach the mandis for procurement till the elections. If the government calls itself farmer-friendly, it should get passed a legal guarantee law on the MSP and push for a similar law at the Centre.”

Similarly, Gurnam Singh, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) faction, also called it a hard-fought victory of farmers from road to court. “Our activists have been working to get MSP for all crops through agitations since 2014. Later, they took the matter to court. Earlier, an agitation was also sparked in 2008. Now, as the demand is met, we see it an outcome of the government’s fear due to our move to contest assembly elections. They believe that if the farmers are successful in politics, they will lose,” Charuni said.

The farmer leader, who is a native of Charuni Jatan village under Shahabad in Kurukshetra, has announced to contest the upcoming assembly elections from Pehowa seat under his own Sanyukt Sangharsh Party. The seat is currently represented by former minister and BJP leader Sandeep Singh.

At Shambhu border, a section of farmers under the banner of Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) has been pprotesting since February, while demanding legally-guaranteed MSP.

They were to march towards the national capital to demand a law on the MSP from the Union government but were not allowed to enter Haryana by the authorities that led to a series of violent incidents, resulting in the death of a young farmer and injuries to several on both sides.