BJP meeting farmers' grievances with bullets: Yechury

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday accused the BJP-led central government of turning farming into a "loss-making profession" and meeting farmers' genuine grievances with "bullets".

"The essential point is this: We are not remunerating farmers adequately for their labour and produce. The BJP instead, is meeting their genuine grievances with bullets," Yechury wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday, referring to the protests in Madhya Pradesh in which six farmers were killed in police firing.

Farmers have been protesting in Madhya Pradesh for debt waiver and hike in crop prices.

"The Minimum Support Price (MSP) is low, and Modi government has stopped state-level bonus. Market prices, lower than MSP, make farming a loss-making profession," the Facebook post read.

The leader also said that farm loan waiver is a temporary measure and the central government needs to raise MSP and also allow states to announce bonuses and government should procure the produce.

"Allowing cheap imports while the farmer is increasing production, just to keep prices low for the traders is an anti-farmer move by the government," the post read.

On Friday night, all entry and exit points to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, which has become the epicenter of the farmers' protests were sealed.

Farmers in Maharashtra, Bihar, Haryana and Tamil Nadu have also threatened to hit the streets over their demands of better remunerations and loan waiver.

--IANS

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