Why no dialogue with farmers? V-P to Centre amid Dallewal fast
Amid the ongoing farm agitation, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday sought to know from the Centre why it was not holding a dialogue with the protesting farmers. The Vice-President sounded a note of caution saying a nation that tested the patience of farmers paid a heavy price.
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on stage at an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) event in Mumbai, Dhankhar said: “Agriculture Minister Sir, every moment is critical for you. I urge you, and as the person holding the second-highest constitutional position in India, I request you to please tell me, was any promise made to the farmer, and why has it not been fulfilled? What are we doing to fulfil the promise? There was an agitation last year, and there is one this year as well, and time is passing, but we are doing nothing.”
Addressing Chouhan, the Vice-President said: “You are the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. I am reminded of Sardar Patel, and his responsibility to unify the nation. This challenge is before you and it should not be considered any less than the unity of India.”
Invoking Punjab farmer Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on a fast-unto-death over legal backing to the minimum support price (MSP), Dhankhar said a dialogue with the farmers should happen immediately.
Dallewal, who heads the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-political), has maintained that the government, since the time of agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, has made promises to farmers but not kept them.
“Honourable Agriculture Minister, did the previous agriculture ministers make any written promises? If so, what happened to them?” said Dhankhar.
He drew the attention to the agitating farmers and said the government couldn’t fight with own people or put them in a situation where they were left to fight on their own.
“We cannot hold the ideology that their struggle will be limited and they will eventually tire out. We should not disturb the soul of India, we should not hurt its heart. Can we create a boundary between the farmer and the government? Those whom we need to embrace cannot be pushed away,” Dhankhar said, referring to Dallewal. “This is your challenge. When any government makes a promise, and it is related to the farmer, we should never leave anything incomplete,” he stressed.
Dhankhar also urged the government to consider farmers’ requests regarding the MSP “positively”. “Our mindset should be positive; we should not create obstacles by thinking that giving the farmer this price will have negative consequences. Whatever price we give to the farmer, the nation will benefit five times over… Those who say that giving our farmers a fair price for their produce would cause a disaster, I do not understand why,” he said.
Reflecting on the broader impact of the farmer’s movement, the Vice-President said it was a very narrow assessment to think that the farmer’s movement only referred to those on the streets. “No. The son of a farmer is now an officer, the son of a farmer is now a government employee. Why did Lal Bahadur Shastri say, ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’? With that ‘Jai Kisan’, our attitude should be the same as was envisioned by Shastri,” he added.
