Under pressure to follow in the footsteps of BJP’s ally- SAD- on the issue of three-farm bills, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Sunday reassured farmers that the bills will not harm the interests of the farming community.
“There is not a single line of eliminating minimum support price (MSP) in three farm ordinances. The crops of the farmers would be procured on the MSP and they would have right to sell the crop in the market openly in case they receive high rates,” Dushyant said while talking to the mediapersons here.
Dushyant said he will step down from his portfolio if any attempt to discontinue MSP system surfaces.
The resignation of Shiromani Akali Dal’s lone Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet over three farm bills has raised pressure on BJP’s Haryana ally- Dushyant Chautala, whose Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) is part of the state’s coalition government.
A day before, a hashtag demanding the withdrawal of JJP’s support to BJP was trending on Twitter.
Dushyant’s latest assurance to the farmers came on the day when the upper House passed two of the three controversial farm bills.
The Deputy Chief Minister made it clear that farmers would have the right of MSP and asked them to not get misled.
He also accused former Chief Minister and Leader of opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda of trying to misguide the farmers for furthering his own political interests.
Not only did Hooda himself advocated open market for farmers but also signed on such recommendations of a committee set up by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the regime of UPA as its head, he claimed. Lashing out at Hooda, Dushyant asked, why the former CM is adopting double standards on this and what is the reason behind misleading the farmers? Dushyant said that the Congress party supported contract farming in its vision document during its first tenure of UPA and now Congress is opposing the bills for political gains.
The Deputy CM further said that in the coming paddy procurement season, each grain would be procured on MSP and further maize would also be procured on MSP.
The farmers are his family and he would do anything to ensure their welfare, Dushyant added.
Notably, the lathi-charge on farmers on September 10 during a protest rally in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district had intensified problems for the JJP.
Many farmers were badly injured and the opposition had accused the government of suppressing the farmers’ voice. Following this, the JJP had condemned the incident and demanded an inquiry into the matter.
