New promises and faces helped the BJP address the resentment felt by farmers

The agricultural belts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh too have favoured the BJP, despite the campaigns by the Opposition and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) against the BJP over economic distress on the rural front. While the promises of an increase in the procurement price for paddy, with a bonus, seems to have worked in favour of the BJP in Chhattisgarh, the assurance that the financial assistance under the PM-Kisan Nidhi will be doubled from ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 has helped the party’s campaign in all the three States. According to BJP leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee at election rallies that he would extend the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for another five years also helped the rural and urban electorate look towards the BJP.

For example, in the Malwa-Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh, famous for cultivation of soyabean, wheat and other crops, the BJP won 48 out of the 66 seats. In the 2018 elections, the Congress had won 36 seats from this region. “A slew of measures helped us to win the confidence of farmers,” Bansi Lal Gurjar, national vice president of the BJP’s farmers’ wing, Bharatiya Kisan Morcha, said.

According to Mr. Gurjar, there were two factors that specifically helped his party during the campaigns. “In 2003, the irrigated farming area in the State was about seven lakh hectares. Now, it is 45 lakh hectares. It was the biggest contribution of the BJP to the farmers. Also, the promise of increasing the Kisan Samman Nidhi worked well for us. It is not a rewri (freebie). It will compensate the losses in the cost of production,” he said.

The BJP, however, had to face protests by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s State unit over the three farm laws, and encouraging cultivation of concentrated poppy straws (CPS) in place of the traditional way of extracting latex in licensed opium farming. “Now, the farmers have rejected the SKM, a ‘B team’ of the Congress. The three farm laws should be brought back with some amendments. It will benefit the farmers. On CPS system, we believe that it is not beneficial for farmers. We will have to make it better. We will complain to the governments,” Mr. Gurjar added.

Senior farmers’ leader in Mandsaur, Mahesh Vyas, however, countered this view. “Farmers have voted against the BJP. But the BJP won by winning the votes of other groups of people through schemes such as Ladli Behna scheme (in Madhya Pradesh0,” he said.

Hariram Ranwa, former State president of the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha in Rajasthan, too agreed with Mr. Gurjar. “Farmers have to be empowered. In Rajasthan, those farmers who follow technically advanced agriculture, have better living conditions. But most of the small and medium farmers have a very poor life. The direct benefit was appreciated by small farmers. But to empower them, we will have to take more concrete steps,” Mr. Ranwa said.

In the eastern regions of Rajasthan, the BJP improved its tally compared with the previous Assembly election. “Earlier, farmers were not happy with the BJP because Jats, Gurjar and Malis, the main communities engaged in agriculture, were with Congress. Appointing Satish Poonia as State president of the party had an impact on the farmers, and also giving opportunities for people from farmers’ background in the local self governments,” he said.

Mr. Poonia, however, was defeated in Amer constituency in this election. The new government, according to Mr. Ranwa, should address issues such as water scarcity and lack of access to technology that can improve agriculture practices.

In Chhattisgarh too, the BJP tried to address the issues raised by farmers in the Mahanadi basin areas of the central plains, cultivating paddy. The party said it would launch the ‘Krishi Unnati Scheme’ under which paddy will be procured at ₹3,100 per quintal and the payment would be done at one go. The party also promised to address the issue of scarcity of bags to stock and transport paddy. To placate tribal farmers, the BJP said tendu leaves would be procured at a rate of ₹5,500 per standard bag.