‘BJP shows anti-farmer face again’: Congress on Haryana sunflower farmers’ stir

Congress leader and member of Parliament (MP) Deepender Singh Hooda said that 10 farmers were injured and numerous others were detained in Haryana’s Kurukshetra on Tuesday

The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has once again displayed its anti-farmer face by ordering a baton charge on the sunflower farmers, who were demanding a minimum support price (MSP) for their produce, in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district on Tuesday.

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda. (File)

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, Congress leader and member of Parliament (MP) Deepender Singh Hooda said that 10 farmers were injured and numerous others were detained on Tuesday.

“The government’s violent command to use a baton charge was in keeping with the cruelty of British rule. It is evident that this government is not of the farmers, wrestlers or armed forces, but only of the rich,” he said.

“Even the Swaminathan Report has not yet been put into practise. Over 750 farmers sacrificed their life during the year-long protest by the farmers over the three farm legislation. Following that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and declared that the three agriculture laws will be reinstated. And the MSP has still not been delivered after 1.5 years,” Hooda said.

Farmers protesting against the Haryana government’s decision not to buy sunflower seeds at the minimum support price (MSP), on Tuesday blocked the National Highway-44 near Shahbad in Kurukshetra district, following which the police resorted to baton-charge and sprayed water cannon to clear the blockage.

Kurukshetra superintendent of police (SP) Surinder Singh Bhoria said that police had to use mild force to remove farmers after repeated requests to them to remove the blockade failed to yield any result. He said that most of the detained farmers were released later in the day.

“Only eight farmer leaders, including Gurnam Singh Charuni, are in the custody of the police,” the SP said.

On May 30, the BJP-led Haryana government issued a notice declaring that sunflower seeds and bajra have been included in the list of crops covered under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana (BBY), under which ₹1,000 per quintal is provided to farmers for selling their produce to private buyers. However, the farmers have been saying that they are selling the produce at ₹4,000 per quintal to private buyers against the MSP of ₹6,400.