The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday objected to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan being named the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, charging that Mr. Chouhan was responsible for the death of six protesting farmers in police firing in M.P.’s Mandsaur in June 2017.
“SKM strongly protests the decision of NDA leadership to allocate the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to Shivaraj Singh Chouhan, responsible for the killing of six farmers of Mandsaur on 6th June 2017,” the SKM statement read.
“The decision symbolises arrogance and insensitivity exhibited by the former regimes of 2014 and 2019 with an absolute majority to BJP. It has aroused wrath among the farmers and the rural people across the country,” added the SKM, a group of various farmer organisations.
Six farmers were killed in Mandsaur’s Pipaliya Mandir area, when the police opened fire at a protest seeking better crop prices and farm loan waivers, which allegedly turned violent.
Mr. Chouhan’s office did not comment on the matter.
Madhya Pradesh’s longest serving Chief Minister Mr. Chouhan was replaced with Mohan Yadav after the BJP won the State Assembly election in November 2023. He won the recently concluded Lok Sabha election from his traditional Vidisha constituency and got the Agriculture portfolio, mainly due to his contributions to the sector in his home State. Mr. Chouhan has also been given the Rural Development portfolio.
The SKM also slammed the newly formed NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that its first Cabinet meeting “did not take any decision to address the acute agrarian crisis and farmers’ suicides, to meet the long pending farmers’ demands of guaranteed MSP@C2+50%, comprehensive loan waiver, repeal of privatisation of electricity, reduction in the cost of production and assured insurance and pension”.
“The hype being created in the name of releasing ₹20000 crore of arrear in the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, which is an existing scheme with grossly inadequate sum of average ₹500 per month per farmers’ household - will not satisfy farmers since it camouflages the unwillingness of the State to provide remunerative MSP and the policies of corporate takeover of agricultural sector,” the farmers body said.
A delegation of the SKM on Thursday will also visit the families of farmers killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in October, 2021. A general body meeting of the outfit scheduled on July 10 will assess the post-election scenario and contemplate the future plan of action on its demands, the SKM said.
