RSS offshoots slam Centre for failing to stem agrarian crisis
The BJP-led government’s handling of the ongoing farmers’ unrest and job cuts has earned the criticism of the offshoots of its ideological mentor — the RSS.
The labour and the farmer’s wing of the RSS, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) have blamed the Centre for failing to stem crises and for allowing the government think tank NITI Aayog to steer policy towards reliance on foreign direct investment.
Both organisations want the government to revisit its economic and agriculture policies, moving away from FDI and disinvestment, and most importantly not accepting the “anti-farmer and anti-labour” suggestions of NITI Aayog. The BKS is circumspect about the famers’ protest in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur where five persons were killed in police firing following violence, but has cautioned the government that unless quick measures such as minimum support price are offered, the agrarian crisis would worsen.
“Farmers are paying as much as ₹1.50 lakh for a kg of papaya seeds, which can only be used once. States are bickering over water sharing while farmers continue to struggle to irrigate their farms, debts are mounting because produce is being sold at prices far lower than the investment,” Badri Narayan Chaudhry, national general secretary of the BKS told HT.
The farmers’ wing has slammed the government for failing to offer support price to farmers and continuing to export food grains and pulses even though there has been a bumper harvest in the country.