Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane belt not sweet for BJP anymore?
Farm distress, local issues and lack of development are riling the voters of Western Uttar Pradesh that goes to the elections on April 11 in its first phase of polling.
At Pachenda village, part of Bijnore Lok Sabha seat, Surendra Chaudhary, a sugarcane farmer belonging to the jat community, is surrounded by his likes. In the hot afternoon the discussion is on national elections.
Clearly the famers are angry with both the central and state government that are ruled by the BJP. They are annoyed with their local Member of Parliament, who they say, visited them once five-years-ago only to make tall promises and never to be seen again. Chaudhary says “he will come again seeking votes and this time, we will not vote for him”. The farmers are seeking a change.
Another farmer points to the street light mounted over a solar panel which does not work. He says it is an “imitation piece” as the battery of the solar panel has been missing since its installation.
Behrahousa village in Muzaffar Nagar Lok Sabha constituency is a mix of jat, Muslim and dalit voters. What came as a surprise was, shedding their differences, farmers – big and small, rich and poor, from all these communities, were sitting together to decide whom to vote for. And their verdict seemingly anti-establishment.
Vijay Pal Verma, a Sunar (OBC) and a sugarcane farmer, is annoyed with the sitting member of parliament. He says that not once in the past five years, the MP had the time to visit their village and hear out their problems. Same sentiments were echoed by Dhirendra Chaudhary, a former block pramukh (block head). He was critical of both the Member of Parliament and the local MLA. He says a while ago a village youth was hit by a speeding truck. Many calls were made to the local MP seeking his intervention, but it did not elicit a response. The MLA on the other hand rubbed salt in their wounds saying that probably the youth was drunk. “How can he pronounce a judgement without ascertaining details? If this is the attitude of the representatives, how do they expect our votes? he asked.
Vikil Chaudhary, a young farmer, says Modi government came to power making all kinds of promises. They said they would help sugar cane farmers but failed to do anything including getting them their dues from sugar mills. He was angry with UP government for not raising the ‘State Advised Price’ or (SAP), the procurement price. The price for sugarcane remained unchanged for 2018-19 harvest season at ₹315 a quintal. Farmers have been demanding a price of ₹400 a quintal, pointing to rise in input costs, such as diesel, labour wages, fertiliser.
Farmer Suresh Chaudhary reminded a Supreme Court order that mandated interest payments to farmers in case the procurement prices were not paid within two weeks. This had fallen on the deaf ears of the government, he lamented. “If I do not get paid for my crop, how do I sustain my family, how do I pay the school fees of my children and now the situation has reached to such a level that I am getting regular calls from the school for fees. They say that if I fail pay up soon, the names of my children will be struck off from the rolls.”
In nearby Nirana village in Muzaffarnagar, jat leader and Rashtriya Lok Dal President Chaudhary Ajit Singh was holding a rally. He was late by two hours, but the crowd waited patiently and greeted him. Ajit Singh, son of legendary farm leader and former prime minister Choudhary Charan Singh, is leading Mahagatbandhan in the region. His party, RLD is strong in Western UP and had allied with SP and BSP.
Ajit Singh asked the crowd whether they got achhe din or the good days promised by the prime minister five years ago. Satisfied by the crowd response Singh goes on to ask whether they got jobs? After receiving several noes from the crowed he ended his speech with a slogan “to is baar — hai hai Modi aur bye-bye Modi” (This time it should be hai hai Modi and bye-bye Modi).
(Vivek Avasthi is Senior Editor – Politics with Business Television India (BTVI))