‘Not good’: BJP Kisan Morcha opposes Govt’s GM crops idea

BJP ‘Kisan Morcha’ on Thursday  opposed the Modi Government’s  support  to Genetically Modified (GM)  crop saying it was not good for the farming community. Nevertheless, it has set out to train BJP workers to impart information in each village on pro-farmer policies of the party in last four years.

As the Lok Sabha polls draw closer, BJP ‘Kisan Morcha’ head  Virendra Singh ‘Mast’ has organised   a three-day National workshop to train BJP workers who would be deployed in each village to do ‘samvad’ (dialogue)  with villagers on  government’s welfare policies and schemes for  farmers. The workshop will be held at Gurugram, Haryana, from May  18 to May 20 and train  220 BJP workers who, in turn, in batches of five each, would visit villages and coordinate  in implementing pro-farmers ‘Yojanas’ of the Modi government.

He said soon after completing the national workshop for training, the Morcha would set up such workshops in each district by next month.

Asked whether he approved government’s backing to GM crop, Singh said he disapproved of “those opposing  GM crop  in the past supporting it now. .. it is not good”.

The issue on having a regulatory mechanism before giving clearance to GM crop is pending before the Supreme Court. A PIL has been filed on the issue. Government has claimed  that it has a sound regulatory mechanism in place. 

Singh,  a BJP MP from Bhadohi Lok Sabha  Constituency in Uttar Pradesh, said he has been interacting with farmers in each district for past one year and flagged animal husbandry , sheep rearing , tree plantation and water-recharging as areas  which  he said  could increase income and  mitigate deteriorating environment around.

“Dialogues with farmers in villages would shift the urban-centric discussions  to right places,” he said even as he did not favour modes of  communication and campaigns like “road shows” .  “ Road shows are westernized ways of campaigning”, he said and accused the Congress of westernizing the poll culture. When his attention was drawn to Prime Minister Narendra Modi  and BJP President  Amit Shah also moving with the trend and leading road shows in Karnataka, the  MP said he was stationed in Karnataka villages having ‘samvad’ with them.

He  said if solar irrigation is implemented it would cut the cost of  irrigation by 40 per cent and double the income of farmers.  He lauded Modi-government for earmarking 52 percent budget for agriculture.