Vote in LS election, but not in favour of BJP: Farmers’ body

Our Correspondent

Abohar, April 16

With regard to the first phase of polling on April 19, the Gramin Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (GKS), the largest farmers organisation in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts, on Tuesday gave a call to farmers and farm workers to ensure maximum polling. However, the GKS called for farmers to vote for any political party, except the BJP.

The GKS is allied to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), which has been staging protests on farmers’ issues across the country.

GKS state president Ranjit Singh Raju, secretary Santvir Singh Mohanpura, Sriganganagar district president Ram Kumar Saharan, Anoopgarh district secretary Virdeep Singh, Goluwala block chief Roshan Singh and others said at a press conference today that farmers had been agitating for the last three to four years for their demands and had tried every form and strategy of the movement.

However, this had no impact on the BJP government at the Centre. The announcements and promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to farmers on the day of Gurpurab had also not been fulfilled. This forced farmers to start a pukka morcha at Ratanpura and Sangria in Rajasthan, according to the GKS leaders.

Farmers’ leaders are also expected to approach the fraternity in the neighboring state of Punjab, which goes to poll on June 1.

GKS leaders it had become a compulsion for farmers to oppose the BJP. The farmer body leaders alleged that the BJP’s state and central governments were pretending to purchase crops at the minimum support price. Government figures showed that only 15 per cent of moong and mustard had been purchased at MSP. Government agencies were purchasing wheat and paddy only because it had to be distributed to the poor through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

They accused the government of reducing the import duty on mustard to zero, which made importing mustard from outside cheaper. Due to this, the farmers were not getting full price of mustard.

“As the BJP governments have been ignoring the demands of farmers and labourers, we have decided under the banner of SKM to oppose the saffron party candidates everywhere in the Lok Sabha elections,” the GKS state president said.

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