Farmers’ ire upsets Modi’s party in polls: Experts

By Ahmad Adil

CHANDIGARH, India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has recently saw a huge setback after they lost key elections in the states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh (MP), which were considered to be the party’s bastions.

Political scientists in the country believe that farmer’s anger against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government played a crucial role in the election defeat.

“Farmer's anger arising out of the agriculture distress played a crucial role in defeat of the BJP. The opposition Congress was able to exploit and tap the anger of farmers to its advantage. Farmers protest were genuine and that is why rural voters have preferred the Congress over the BJP,” Satish Misra, a senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, told Anadolu Agency.

There have been several farmer agitations in different parts of the country. In November, tens of thousands of farmers from western state of Maharashtra had marched in Mumbai.

Loan waivers were one of their key demands. A massive rally was organized by farmers recently in Indian capital New Delhi against soaring operating costs and plunging produce prices.

“The farmer's movement is symptomatic of the general economic crisis in the country. The government doesn't seem to be in any control. Rather, the government is widely considered as responsible for the crisis,” Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya, a professor at New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Anadolu Agency.

Political commentators say the recent elections would have impact in 2019 -- when the country would go to general elections.

“The BJP had won 62 seats in 2014 and now it is likely to lose 35 odd seats that would mean a lot. The Congress party would be taken seriously by other parties, which would help in forming a credible alliance to take on the Modi led BJP in general elections,” Misra said.

'Agriculture sector in vicious hands'

Sarvesh Dutt, who teaches media at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) in New Delhi, said the recent assembly elections’ outcome will impact the mindset of national electorate going to vote next year for Parliament.

“It is quite apparent that on the one hand three Hindi speaking states, where assembly polls were held, have rejected Hinduism plank and they have become aware of the damages being caused to the social fabric of the nation by right wing,” Dutt said.

“Year after year, the income of farmers is shrinking. Agriculture sector has been left in the vicious hands of market forces and governments didn't intervene for the well-being of the sector,” he added.

As per 2011 Indian census, the country has 263 million farmers.

Low food prices and anti-inflation policies are some of the issues that are keeping rural incomes low, say farmers in the country.

“Election results recently were a victory for 12 crores farmer families of India. Farmers have defeated BJP because of their anti-farmer policies. Also, Farmers will be a deciding factor in all upcoming elections due to consecutive farmers movements,” Abhimanyu Kohar, spokesman for Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, a joint group of over 100 farmer organizations, told Anadolu Agency.

“When Government is not ready to accept the problem, it is impossible to solve it. Government declares new policies for farmers every six months, but their implementation on ground is zero,” Kohar added.

Syed Zafar Islam, a spokesman for the ruling BJP, rejected the notion that the farmers’ agitation was the major reason of the party’s loss, saying: “We will ascertain and analyze the exact reasons as to why we lost the elections.”

“The agitation of farmers in India are motivated and sponsored. Majority of the farmer community are happy and they support the initiatives taken by the Indian government,” Islam said.