Farmers vs The State

UP’s farm loan waiver triggers similar demands and fierce violence in two BJP-ruled states.

- Kiran D. Tare and Rahul Noronha

Yogi Adityanath’s proclamation of a partial farm debt waiver in Uttar Pradesh in March has provoked a storm in two other BJP-ruled states. Since June 1, identical scenes have played out across both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh—furious farmers demanding debt waivers and remunerative prices, blocking milk and vegetable supplies to cities, including Mumbai and Bhopal, and expressing their collective anguish by dumping hundreds of litres of milk and tonnes of fresh produce on the roads.

In Maharashtra, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis faces a tough challenge with two major farmer collectives—the Kisan Kranti Andolan in Ahmednagar and the Kisan Sabha across Nashik, Osmanabad, Aurangabad and Kolhapur—blocking supplies to cause a 40 per cent shortfall in milk and vegetable supplies in metros.