A frenzy of protests over a troika of contentious central farm laws and break-up of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance has dramatically reshaped Punjab’s political landscape. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh lost no time to seize on a potentially game-changing developments to raise his stock, and that of his party, with the Sikh peasantry and arhtiyas, predominantly Hindus, and outwit the opposition – all with an eye firmly on the next assembly elections in early 2022.
At 78, the erstwhile Patiala royal’s razor-sharp political instinct is now increasingly on display as he navigates the dual hotspots – of an unrelenting farmers’ fury, and of the coronavirus that has made Punjab one of the seven worst-hit states. In an hour-long interview with Executive Editor Ramesh Vinayak on Friday at his sprawling, lush farm house, Mohinder Bagh, named after his mother, in the Shivalik foothills near Chandigarh, the Captain candidly spoke on a range of issues. Edited excerpts:
Punjab is the epicentre of protests against three farm laws. What is the main issue? Is it minimum support price (MSP), or loss of market fees/taxes, or federalism?
Of course, it is all three. It is a total assault on federalism. They (the Centre) have taken away our taxation, water and agriculture. What is left with the state? The farmer is concerned. Take the case of paddy. Till 1966 when the Green Revolution came to Punjab, nobody grew this crop. Only when farmers saw money in it, did they start rice cultivation. Every farmer in Punjab grows paddy and wheat besides cotton in the south western districts. Now, a farmer won’t know how much he will get for his crop. How is he going to survive? 75% of our farmers are under five acres; half of them under two acres. These poor fellows don’t even know where their livelihood will come from.
What is the way forward to break the logjam?
I don’t know. This (the enactment of farm laws) is based on the Shanta Kumar Committee report that said the Food Corporation of India is a waste of money and so is the MSP. How Mr Shanta Kumar reached this conclusion is his business. But once it comes down to the Government of India, they should look into it. What do they have the NITI Aayog for? It is their business to look into this and see whether it is correct or not. You’ve got Madhya Pradesh and other river basin states growing wheat, the Centre is not dependent so much on Punjab. So you are now turning a back on Punjab that fed this country for 60 years.
Has the framework on federalism come under more strain since the Covid-19 outbreak?
That’s evident even in the goods and services tax (GST) which is a constitutional guarantee by Parliament that the state will get its dues every quarter. I’ve not had any money since March. It’s the seventh month. How do I run the government? The reason I vouched for reopening liquor vends despite the pandemic was that there was no other source of revenue than excise duty. The Narendra Modi government doesn’t understand the implications. They didn’t think this reaction to farm laws will come from Punjab. The protests are not happening in other states because they happen to be BJP-ruled. But farmers all over are feeling the same way.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union agriculture minister have repeatedly assured that MSP will stay. The Centre has even declared the MSP for Rabi crops earlier than schedule. Why do you doubt them?
If they were serious about it, why didn’t they put it in the Act? They could have said that MSP is going to stay and that FCI or whatever agency it is, is going to do the buying. They did not do it. This is only the Prime Minister and the agriculture minister saying so. Tomorrow, if Mr Modi is not the PM or Mr Narendra Singh Tomar is not holding agriculture, will their commitment hold?
How come the Congress, which when in power in the early ’90s had ushered in the defining reforms, is now opposed to farm sector reforms that the BJP government calls long overdue and transformative?
What will they transform? The Modi government says the farm laws will open agriculture to the corporate world. Who says this not already open to corporate sector? In Punjab, we have Pepsi and ITC buying potatoes. All my kinnows from Hoshiarpur and Ferozepur are going to Chennai. The system is already open. So, the Centre’s logic is just a lame excuse.
Is the MSP regime not the biggest stumbling block in diversification that Punjab desperately needs?
The MSP works only for wheat, paddy and cotton. The Centre declares MSP on many crops but there is no price support agency. The day we discussed the farm bills in the special assembly session last month, the MSP for maize was Rs 1,850 per quintal. But, in Hoshiarpur mandis, it was selling at Rs 600.
The ruling BJP says the Congress wants that the MSP be made a legal right which it never did while ruling the country for seven decades?
The point is not a legal right. It (MSP) was taken for granted since the 1960s. It has been continuing since and no government, not even the non-Congress ones, ever opposed it. Here, we are not saying that you bring a law. All we are asking for is that make an amendment in the farm laws to ensure that MSP continues the way it has all these years.
You said Pakistan may exploit the unrest among farmers. But, your party is also stoking the farmers’ agitation. Isn’t this contradictory?
I don’t have to tell the people to agitate. They are agitating on their own. When somebody doesn’t have food to feed his children, he will be protesting on his own. Look at the drama the Akalis did on Thursday with their protest marches. Because they realised that that’s how people on the ground feel. Before that, they had to make a 180-degree turn in their stance, pull this girl (Harsimrat) out and then withdraw from the National Democratic Alliance.
All Punjab parties and farmers are in protest mode. But, the Centre has ruled out any re-think on farm laws. Where will all this lead to?
That depends on how long the legal system takes to redress the issue. I don’t see them (the Centre) relenting on this. I can speak for Punjab. Unfortunately, this Centre doesn’t understand agriculture. Something is wrong with the whole system. 65% of India in villages lives on agriculture. The MSP is only in North India. But if prices start crashing in other states, there is going to be a big hue and cry.
Some quarters argue why the state can’t stand guarantee for the MSP. After all, agriculture is a state subject?
We don’t have the money. They (the Centre) have taken away everything. I’ve got nothing with me. We (the state governments) are really going to be completely just living on central charity. That is what it’s coming to.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked chief ministers of Congress-ruled states to find the way out to override the farm laws? Can the state legislature pass a Bill to invalidate the central law?
This is subject to Presidential assent. This President is not going to approve it. Take the case of the Act we passed on scrapping the interstate water treaties in 2004. The Punjab governor signed it and then forwarded it to the President, who referred it as Presidential reference to the Supreme Court. But, here (in farm laws) even this governor is not going to sign such a Bill passed by the Punjab assembly. If he doesn’t do that, it will not go to the President.
Then, what are the options on your table?
As of now, a legal recourse is the only option. We’re going to do this (challenge the farm laws) on grounds of violation of the federal structure. My legal team is on the job. We’re going to fight it out. Once they have changed the law, you have to challenge the law. The Centre can’t tell us what to do and what not to do. Tomorrow, if I opt for crop diversification, am I going to take the Government of India’s approval? It i s my problem. Why should they interfere in our affairs?
There is a suggestion that the Punjab assembly can bypass a part of the central laws by declaring the entire state a principal marketing yard. Is that doable?
That has to be legally checked. The only issue again is that even if the assembly passes it, the governor won’t pass it.
Both the BJP and Akalis insist that the Congress manifestos promised privatisation of mandis on the same lines as the new farm laws.
Our 2017 Punjab manifesto said we will increase the mandis by 1,000, which incidentally we had to do in the last paddy season due to Covid-19. We had promised to strengthen the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) without tinkering with the MSP. Our Lok Sabha poll manifesto of 2017 said we will do away with the APMC Act but have farmers’ markets. We never said we will do with the MSP or privatise it.
How will the BJP-SAD break-up change Punjab’s political terrain?
It will certainly change it. After coming out of the ruling NDA, Akalis are going to lose the ground a great deal. They know that. They felt that they will be totally destroyed if they did not come out of the alliance. But frankly, I don’t trust them. One month before the polls, they may join up again. ‘Ihna da koi itbar tan hain nahin (You can’t trust them).’
The Akalis may escalate their agitation to morcha mode?
That is their old tactic. Whenever they are in crisis, they raise an outcry of the Panth in crisis. Today, for them, the Panth means Mr and Mrs Badal.
Now that Congress in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat has reached out to your estranged MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu and called him an asset to the party, what role do you see for Sidhu in the government and the party?
I don’t have any problem with Sidhu or Mr Rawat brokering peace. I have known Sidhu from the age of two. He is a Patiala boy. I have no problem with him. Putting somebody somewhere in a job is always done on the basis of what job that person is good at doing. He didn’t like my changing his ministry from local bodies to power. He is welcome to come as power minister, not as local bodies. His job is open. Power is important to me as well as Punjab.
What if he doesn’t accept this offer?
Then, there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t change my ministers. They are all doing a good job. Why should I change them to suit somebody else?
How open are you to making him Punjab Congress chief?
I’m very happy with my PCC chief (Sunil Jakhar), who is doing a great job. Why should he make way for somebody? One, you need a PCC chief who understands everybody in the state. Mr Jakhar has lived his whole life in the Congress. Why should somebody who joined the party three years ago become the president? I don’t think that is a fair request if he (Sidhu) asked for it. He can ask for other things. Our national party can make use of him. I can make use of him in the ministry on power.
What are the chances of burying the hatchet with rebel MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo?
I don’t have any problem with either. They have their own (problems). Every fourth day, Bajwa puts out a letter he claims to have written to me that I never receive. He claims that I got his job as PCC chief. If the Congress president brought me and removed Bajwa, she must have had considerations to do it. I didn’t like only one thing about Dullo. When I was leading the party into the 2017 elections, his son stood as the Aam Aadmi Party candidate. And, Dullo, himself a former PCC chief, was helping his son. That is not on.
Both have been strident critics of your government.
Are they going to say that I’m doing a great job? Obviously not. If you want to demolish somebody, you have to find something to demolish him with.
Are you all set to lead the party in the 2022 assembly elections?
I think so. Politically, Punjab is in a good shape: There are four Akali Dals, and the BJP is on its own. We are very happy.
