Tikait warns of 'agriculture hartal' in India to press for MSP guarantee

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday warned of a "country-wide agriculture hartal" if the demand for a legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) was not met by the Narendra Modi government.

Tikait, who is on a three-day tour of Bihar, also urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to restore the system of "mandis" and rued the absence of strong farmer bodies in the state.

"I will try to meet Nitish Kumar to press for the demand for restoration of mandis. Ever since these were disbanded, farmers of the state have been facing hardships which their counterparts elsewhere had feared when the Modi government brought its farm laws," the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader said.

He also claimed that scrapping of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act in 2006 has forced farmers of Bihar to resort to distress selling.

Tikait said farmers must now consider switching back to "hari khaad" (natural fertilisers) since chemically developed ones are environmentally hazardous and expensive.

"If it leads to a drop in productivity, so be it. The government has been turning a deaf ear to our demand for MSP guarantee since it knows farmers will not cease to produce and look for avenues to sell," he said.

"But the government should make no mistake. If needed, farmers of the country will go on an agriculture hartal, triggering a crisis that will bring the government on its knees," he warned.

Tikait also claimed that the NDA's choice of former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, a "Kisan ka beta" (son of a farmer), for the Vice-Presidential polls was a result of the impact the farmers' agitation around Delhi had on national politics.

The farmer leader, who has stayed away from electoral politics, was also of the view that Nitish Kumar and his JD(U) should be on their guard against ally BJP.

"The BJP is vicious. It is gunning for the Nehru-Gandhi family and has caused parties like the Shiv Sena to disintegrate," Tikait alleged.