New Delhi: The ongoing farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws has cast a shadow on the ruling alliance between the Jannayak Janata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana.
Immediately after the passage of the bills, opposition parties had begun mounting pressure on JJP – which has a large farmer support base – to withdraw from the alliance. The recent police action against the agitating farmers by the Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana government has led to demands within the party for a reconsideration.
Over the past few days several senior leaders of JJP have spoke out in favour of farmers and hinted that the party could well have a change of heart. Today, senior JJP leader Digvijay Chautala, who is the younger brother of Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, said the party would discuss its future after the meeting between the representatives of the farmers’ unions and the Central government.
Also read: After Hours of Talks, Farmers-Centre Discussions Inconclusive; Protests to Continue
Other party leaders have also been vocal on the issue. The national president of JJP, Ajay Chautala, had on Monday demanded that the Centre give an assurance to the farmers on procurement of crops at or above the minimum support price.
Stating that there should be no problem in giving any assurance, he said, “When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union agriculture minister are repeatedly assuring us that MSP will continue, there was no harm in giving that in writing.”
Treatment of farmers
On November 29, JJP MLA Jogi Ram Sihag was the first to criticise the Haryana government on how it treated the protesting farmers. He demanded registration of criminal cases against civil and police officers who had ordered barricading highways to stop farmers from marching to Delhi.
In a statement, Sihag said: “The Haryana government has been treating farmers who are agitating for their rights as if they are terrorists. This is not only injustice, but also an act of atrocity on the innocent farmers.” He also said officials responsible for digging up the roads to prevent farmers from walking ahead to Delhi and damaging property must be booked.
Sihag has been among those leaders of JJP who have opposed the three farm bills from the very beginning. He had also refused to take the post of the chairman of the Haryana Housing Board till the time the three controversial farm laws are amended.
Also read: What Will the Legal Challenge to the Modi Government’s Farm Bills Look Like?
Digvijay Chautala had also been one to call the treatment meted out to farmers as “painful”. He had demanded that the Centre immediately hold talks with the farmers instead of waiting for December 3 – which the Centre eventually did.
In a video released on Monday, Digvijay said, “Whatever we have seen on television during the past two days has pained every single Indian.”
Flames emerge from tear gas released by the police to stop farmers opposing the newly passed farm bills from entering the national capital Delhi, at Singhu border, November 27, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui
Pressure on JJP mounting
The JJP has been under pressure over issue because it claims to be a champion of farmers rights and that has given the other parties an opportunity to target it over its continued association with the BJP.
Soon after the passage of the Bills in the Monsoon Session of parliament, several farmers organisations – and some backed by political parties – had taken to holding protests near the residences of prominent JJP leaders, including Dushyant and Ajay Chautala.
As many as 17 farmers organisations had protested near Dushyant’s Sirsa house in early October, demanding that he withdraw from the BJP-led government.
Coming together under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, these groups had demanded that JJP withdraw its support to the BJP government over the issue of the farm bills.
JJP MLAs and the new laws
Former JJP national vice-president and senior legislator, Ram Kumar Gautam, who resigned from the party post that is now held by Dushyant, had also expressed similar opinion while speaking to The Wire. He had said that “the Haryana government should immediately convene a meeting with all the farmers unions and other groups to allay their doubts and fears.”
Also read: Murmurs of Dissent in JJP as Protests Continue Against Haryana Deputy CM for Supporting Farm Bills
“If we are of the firm opinion that all farmers would be paid the minimum support price for their produce then we should also say so, openly, to them. Else, the opposition will make use of the situation. It is its job to defame and pull down the government,” added Gautam.
As for the protests by the opposition, he said, the government should do its own work and not get too bothered about what others have to say. “In their time, those in the opposition now did a lot that was ‘anti-farmer’ and we had stood by the farmers then. Even now we should do what is best for the farmers,” said Gautam.
