Farmers plan no relief to new govt on MSP issue

Pai village (Kaithal), 21 May P unctuated by the flags of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kaithal's cityscape paints its political allegiance to the ruling party.

Yet, beneath this veneer of political dominance, there are rumblings of discontent.

Kartar Singh, a farmer from the nearby Pai village, believes the BJP is on shaky ground this time. "Minimum support price (MSP) should be guaranteed by whoever forms the government on June 4. If not, we will protest again," he declares. With a badge of Bhagat Singh pinned above his pocket and the flag of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) in his left hand, Singh is no stranger to protest - he had spent 14 months at the Tikri border during the 2020-21 farmer agitation.

Singh is not alone. Hundreds of farmers from Haryana and Punjab had congregated at the village in Kaithal district for a mahapanchayat, a grand assembly called by various farmer unions. These included the BKU Ekta, Punjab Kisan Union, Kheti Bachao, Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (nonpolitical), and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

As union leaders delivered impassioned speeches from the dais, the farmers listened attentively, occasionally pausing to smoke a hookah or fetch water to combat the heat. The leaders reiterated their demands for a law guaranteeing MSP and a farm loan waiver, and also addressed numerous issues they deemed politically "unjust": These ranged from the treatment of protesting female wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to the Agneepath scheme and corporate loan write-offs.

The farmers who lost their lives during the agitations were repeatedly hailed as "martyrs".