Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar urges Centre to hold talks with protesting farmers

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday urged the Centre to hold discussions with protesting farmers immediately.

Dhankhar asked Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was present at the event in Mumbai, if promises made to farmers had been kept.

“Agriculture minister sir, every moment is critical for you,” Dhankhar said. “I urge you, and as the person holding the second-highest constitutional position in India, I request you to please tell me, was any promise made to the farmer, and why has it not been fulfilled?”

“There was an agitation last year, and there is one this year as well, and time is passing, but we are doing nothing,” Dhankhar said, adding that the “soul of India” should not be disturbed.

Dhankhar also asked why a formula for providing minimum support price, a key demand of the protesting farmers, had not yet been worked out in consultation with economists and think tanks.

A minimum support price is the rate at which the government buys farm produce from cultivators. It is based on a calculation that aims to compensate farmers with at least one-and-a-half times the cost incurred in production.

Dhankhar said: “While India is developing, why is the farmer stressed? This is a major concern. Taking this matter lightly means that we are not practical, our policy making is not on the right track.”

“Whatever price we give to the farmer, the nation will benefit five times over – there is no doubt about it,” Dhankhar said. “Who are those people who say that if we give our farmers a fair price for their produce...I do not understand why that would cause a disaster.”

He also said that while India is on its way to becoming the world’s third-largest economy, the income of every citizen must increase eightfold, with the majority of the growth coming from rural areas, for the country to achieve the developed nation status, the Hindustan Times reported.

The vice president said that he had received a “balanced response” from Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farm leader associated with organisations such as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha that led the farmers’ agitation.

This is not the first time that the vice president has spoken about the farm unrest in recent days. “How can we sleep when the problems of farmers are not being solved quickly…”, The Indian Express quoted Dhankhar as asking at an event on Sunday.

On Monday, farmers’ groups from Punjab had broken barricades set up by the police near the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida and attempted to begin their march towards Delhi in another round of protests.

The barricades along the Noida-Delhi border were removed and the movement of traffic was restored later in the day after the groups agreed to vacate the site.

‘When will MSP become reality?’ asks Congress

Following Dhankhar’s remarks, the Congress on Tuesday said that it has consistently asked the Union government why the promises made to farmers have not been fulfilled.

On social media, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh asked when the legal guarantee for a minimum support price would become a reality.

“When will the Swaminathan formula be implemented for deciding MSP [minimum support price]?” the Rajya Sabha MP asked. “When will farmers get the same benefits as capitalists have been given debt relief?”

Apart from a minimum support price, other demands made by the farmers include the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission’s wider recommendations on agriculture in India, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, a farm debt waiver, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, India’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization and compensation for families of farmers who died during the previous farmers’ protests between 2020 and 2021.

Congress MP Digvijaya Singh thanked Dhankhar for raising his voice in favour of the farmers. “The Opposition has always raised the question as to why the promise made to the farmers was not fulfilled,” he said on social media.

Singh asked if the vice president would be able to ask these questions from the chair of the Rajya Sabha. Dhankhar is also the chairperson of the Upper House. “Will you allow us to discuss in the Rajya Sabha under Rule 267?” he asked.

Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha’s Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business permits members to seek suspension of the rules in order to discuss urgent matters.

Dhankhar refuses discussion on farmers’ protest

Meanwhile, proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday began with a clamour after Dhankhar refused to accept notices for discussions on a range of issues, including the farmers’ protests, The Indian Express reported. “As already indicated yesterday, that practice has been discontinued,” he said.

The Winter Session of Parliament has seen repeated adjournments in both Houses since it began on November 25, due to demands from the Opposition for discussions on the alleged fraud charges against Gautam Adani in the United States and the ethnic violence in Manipur.

When the Opposition asked for a discussion on the farmers’ issue during the session on Wednesday, Dhankhar claimed that the parties were politicising the matter and creating drama.

The interest of the farmers would not be served by “crocodile tears”, he added.