A key leader of the ongoing protests against three new agriculture laws has expressed dissatisfaction with the agitation, breaking ranks with his colleagues in the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a platform leading the protests.
Sardar VM Singh, convener of the AIKSCC, told HT that the agitation was “not going right” and farm unions should not make scrapping of the laws a precondition for talks with government or shut the door on negotiations.
If the government were to accede to the farmers’ demand for a law stipulating that no buyer shall purchase farm produce below state-set minimum support prices, then the government should be free to push reforms to modernise the farm sector, Singh said.
However, Yogendra Yadav, a prominent member of the AIKSCC, said the organisation neither agreed with what Singh said nor was he authorised to speak on behalf of the platform.
Several leaders of the AIKSCC said they dissociated themselves from Singh’s stand. “The national working group of the AIKSCC condemns and disassociates itself from the statement made by VM Singh. The statement was neither authorised by AIKSCC nor did it follow the protocols of decision making by the working group,” Yadav, along with 13 senior leaders of the AIKSCC, said.
Singh, on the other hand, said the farm unions had “shifted goalposts”. “Our initial demand was about legislating a private member’s bill in Parliament to guarantee MSP.”
Singh’s organisation, which holds sway over cane and paddy growers from Uttar Pradesh, looks keen to carry on negotiations with the government, a stand that will help give the Prime Minister Narendra Modi administration a window of opportunity to restart stalled negotiations.
On Saturday, 15 farm producer organisations met farm minister Narendra Singh Tomar demanding the government continue with the reforms.
“If the government brings a law to guarantee MSP, then farmers shouldn’t care about whether Adani or Ambani is buying (produce),” Singh said.
Farm unions on protest have alleged the reforms will give a free run to agribusinesses owned by tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
Singh leads the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh. He was behind a landmark suit in the Supreme Court in 2000, whose verdict resulted in better prices for cane growers.
Some economists say a law on making MSP binding makes little economic sense. “If private traders don’t find it profitable to buy at MSP when demand is low, they will simply exit the market,” said Pravesh Sharma, a fellow of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Singh said the government was wrong to focus mainly on Punjab-based farmers for the talks. “I demand that the government talk to us and farmers from UP and other states. It is up to the government to invite us,” he said, expressing willingness to engage with the government.