A day before the 100th day of the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, Swaraj Abhiyan and Jai Kisan Andolan leader Yogendra Yadav, along with a few Samyukt Kisan Morcha members that had been leading farmers’ agitation in Delhi, flagged off the MSP Dilao (get us MSP) campaign in Kalaburagi on Friday.
Before launching the campaign, Mr. Yadav, along with former MLA B.R. Patil, farmers’ leaders Satnam Singh, Chamarasa Malipatil, Badagalpur Nagendra, H.V. Diwakar, U. Basavaraj, women leader K. Neela, Hyderabad Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Amarnath Patil, Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission’s former chairman Prakash Kammaradi and others, visited a few trading units at the APMC and enquired the prices of different farm produce to compare them with the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi often says that MSP was, is, and will be in force. It is a blatant lie. As a matter of fact, MSP was, is, and will be there only on paper. The government simply announces MSP and procures a small quantity of the produce forcing the farmers to sell the rest of the quantity in the open market at much below the MSP. This nationwide MSP Dilao campaign, which we have launched in Karnataka, will proceed through Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and other States. In this campaign, farmers who bring their crops to APMC will demand Mr. Modi to give MSP to their crop,” Mr. Yadav said, addressing an assembly of farmers, mostly women, at the APMC yard.
Mr. Yadav also strongly demanded that the government give legal status to MSP so that farmers could get the guaranteed fair price to their crops as a right. “If MSP gets legal status, the farmers would get the minimum prices to their crops as a right. If the government fails to provide MSP, they will then move the court to get it. In 2011, when Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he strongly demanded legal status to MSP and now, when he became the Prime Minister, he is not ready to implement his own demand,” he said.
Referring to the hardships and the sufferings of the farmers agitating on the Delhi borders, Mr. Yadav appealed to the people to extend their support to the movement that was aimed at securing the future of the country’s children.
“Mr. Modi gave a gift to farmers that they never asked or desired. The farmers sat on Delhi’s streets braving a severe winter chill tell him that he keeps his gift with him. The agitation in Delhi no longer remains the movement of Punjab and Haryana farmers. With the active support coming from the people from across the country and beyond, it became the movement of the entire India.. Such a widespread and consistent movement could be seen once in 30-40 years and we cannot afford to lose the battle. They need your sustained support to win the battle,” he said.
