Politics of agriculture

 Both the ruling BJP and its long-time ally, Shrimoni Akali Dal(SAD) have come a long way together through thick and thin and so when Harsimrat Kaur Badal union minister and wife of Sukhbir Singh Badal Lok Saba MP resigned on September 17, it came as a surprise to many but not to others. Harsimrat’s resignation was announced by her husband Sukhbir Singh Badal in the Lok Sabha. The SAD expressed total opposition to three bills passed by both houses by the NDA- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. What has riled states and in particular farmers is that since agriculture and markets are State subjects the Bills are being seen as an encroachment on the functions of the States, and against the spirit of cooperative federalism. These Bills were introduced to replace Ordinances promulgated by the Centre earlier. It was not that the SAD has taken a principled stand over MSP bills to decide on pulling out a minister in the Modi cabinet. The farmers bills provided the opportunity for the SAD to take the high moral ground in order to woo back the support of the powerful farmers lobby. The main reason is related to politics between the SAD and BJP on seat sharing for the Punjab elections due in 2022. The SAD and BJP haven’t been having a cosy relationship over the past years and quite understandably so with regard to their respective political ambitions. The SAD has been accommodative to the BJP in the seat sharing arrangement in Punjab. However, when it came to Delhi assembly election, the BJP rejected SAD proposal for continuing with the alliance and  would have none of that. Sensing that it cannot continue to play second fiddle any longer where even in Punjab, it was losing support of the farming community, the SAD decided “enough is enough”. Punjab is the wheat basket of India which propelled the green revolution. Politics in agriculture-states is influenced by the farming community especially the powerful and rich farmers. This was given birth during the 1970s and ’80s, when farmer leaders not only managed to mobilize farmers in different parts of the country but were also instrumental in changing the policy on agriculture. Notable among them were Charan Singh and Devi Lal as also leaders such as Balram Jakhar, Sharad Joshi and Mahendra Singh Tikait. However, today, the rule of the kisans is over after liberalisation in 1991, which opened up the economy and coincided with declining fortunes in agriculture, with the 1997-2003 period being acknowledged as the worst since the green revolution. Many governments speak volumes on policies for farmers but have only politics in mind. Farmers by and large say all the assurances given by the government on MSP were verbal and not in written. The promise of “freeing”  farmers from state run mandis and enabling them to sell to private companies at whatever prices, sounds nice. However, the government may have “freed” the farmers form state run mandis etc but have let them fall into the grasp of private corporations.