Haryana BJP accuses Opp of trying to create doubt about farm ordinances

The ruling BJP in Haryana on Sunday accused the opposition of trying to create doubt among farmers about the Centre’s agriculture-related ordinances for their political interests. State BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar sought to assure farmers that the ordinances will neither have any impact on the existing ''mandis'' nor will affect the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism.

“To grind their political axe, opposition leaders are trying to create an atmosphere of doubt.

These ordinances will neither have any impact on the existing mandi system nor will it in any way affect the MSP mechanism,” Dhankar, a former state agriculture minister, said. Hitting out at the main Opposition Congress, he said they should "stop misleading" farmers on the issue.

After the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and other organisations held a protest in Kurukshetra's Pipli against the ordinances recently, Dhankar constituted a three-member panel comprising BJP MPs Dharambir Singh, Brijendra Singh and Nayab Singh Saini to talk farmers. “The BJP has always stood behind farmers and protected their interests,” said Dhankar.

He asked farmers to give their views, saying the ordinances will take the shape of law only after their suggestions have been incorporated.

State Agriculture Minister JP Dalal on Sunday also attacked the Congress, saying farmers have not forgotten "how their land was snatched for peanuts when the Congress was in power".  About the ordinances, Dalal said contrary to the “falsehood” which the opposition is trying to spread, farmers stand to benefit a lot.

 “The existing mandi system is not going to change and crops will continue to be procured at MSP.

But if any farmer gets a higher price outside the mandi system, then he is at liberty to decide where he wants to sell his crops,” he said, asking how it can be anti-farmer.