Battle for MP: 6 years on, Mandsaur police firing missing from poll pitch

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sat on a three-day fast, ensured adequate prices for agricultural produce and launched the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana four months after the Mandsaur police firing

Six farmers were killed during police firing in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh during their agitation demanding better prices for their produce in June 2017. The incident triggered protests over agrarian distress across the country, which was used by Opposition parties as a crucial plank against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to the Assembly elections in the state in November 2018.

Five years later, the Congress and the BJP, both of whom ran governments in Bhopal, skipped any reference to the 2017 incident in their respective election campaigns. Lakhichand Sinam, who runs a small shop close to the police station in Pipliyamandi, where the violence broke out six years ago, told Business Standard over the phone that everyone, including political parties and the locals, has moved on. “No political party or candidate here, be it from the BJP or Congress, has even perfunctorily flagged it in their speeches and nukkad sabhas,” Sinam explained.

More than the police firing, the hot topic for the November 17 polling in Mandsaur and Neemuch regions is whether, and to what extent, rebels could dent the chances of the official candidates of the Congress and BJP. “Both Congress and BJP tried to cash in on the incident, but the subsequent Assembly and Lok Sabha poll results showed how little such events influence voting patterns,” Sinam elaborates. Following that incident, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi rode pillion on a motorbike through the village to dodge police and meet farmers.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sat on a three-day fast and ensured farmers received adequate prices for their produce.

He also launched the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana, four months after the Mandsaur police firing. It was the first such large-scale experiment with price deficiency payment for farmers.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP won seven of the eight seats in Mandsaur, including Malharganj, where Pipliyamandi is located. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP candidate defeated Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan by nearly 375,000 votes. In its 2018 Assembly poll manifesto, the Congress promised to withdraw cases registered against farmers during the agitation and promised judicial inquiry if it were to form the government. Its government lasted just 18 months. “Over the years, the victims’ families received compensation and jobs while others have moved on,” Sinam said.

Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, however, said it would be incorrect to view the impact of the Mandsaur incident from the prism of electoral results. The Mandsaur ‘golikand’, he said, created awareness about the farm distress, which was pitched by parties on the national agenda. “If you look deeper, it brought disparate farmers’ outfits together, shaped a national movement, and contributed to the 378-day farmers’ agitation in 2020-21 against the farm laws,” Kohar, an aide of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh leader Shivkumar Sharma ‘Kakkaji’ in 2017-18, and now a leading voice of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), said.

The issue of farm distress has resonated in the current round of Assembly polls, he said. “My feedback is that Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar faces an uphill election in Dimani. Farmers are questioning the government about the scarcity of urea and fertilisers,” Kohar noted. Farm leaders attribute the February 2019 announcement by the Centre of the PM Kisan Nidhi as a result of the farm agitation that Mandsaur triggered.

Yatindra Singh Sisodia, Director at Ujjain-based MP Institute of Social Science Research, pointed to the BJP and Congress manifesto of the current Assembly polls to stress how the two national parties have promised to resolve the core issues of farmers. Congress has promised free electricity and farm loan waiver if it comes to power. The Congress and the BJP have committed to increasing the minimum support price of wheat and paddy.

The BJP might have performed well in the Mandsaur region, but agricultural distress and farmers’ unrest played a role in the party’s defeat in 2018, although not to the extent the media has portrayed, Sisodia said. The Lokniti Survey in 2018, which Sisodia was a part of, found farmers were divided into class lines when it came to their voting preferences, with landed farmers voting for the BJP (40 per cent) compared to the Congress (35 per cent).

Among landless farmers, Con­gress got higher support (45 per cent) compared to the BJP (41 per cent).

“The focus on agrarian issues since then has been at the forefront, and Mandsaur was the trigger,” Sisodia added.

LEGACY OF AN AGITATION

Jun ‘17: Police firing on agitating farmers in MP’s Mandsaur district kills 6 peasants. The farmers were protesting against falling prices and demanding crop loan waiver
 

Oct ‘17: The MP govt launches Bhawantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY), the first large-scale attempt at price deficiency payment to compensate growers
 

Dec ‘18: BJP loses in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Farmers unrest is cited among other factors
 

Feb ‘19: The Centre in its interim Budget announces PM-KISAN scheme to transfer ~6,000 per annum directly into the bank accounts of farmers
 

Sept ‘20: Farmers start agitating against the 3 farm Acts 
 

Nov ‘21: PM Modi announces repeal of the 3 Acts after prolonged protests