On Thursday, leaders of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha held a maha panchayat in Bengal’s rice bowl to present a counternarrative to the Bhartiya Janata Party’s pro-farmer stance amid the assembly polls.
Rakesh Tikait (Morcha spokesperson) while speaking to farmers at Asansol Municipal park in Burdwan said, “This is the moment when BJP seniors will come on your doorstep and ask for a handful of rice. Ask for MSP [Minimum support price] for your paddy when you give them the rice. You need to work out a plan and ask them these questions because they will come to you again at the end of 2023, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections”.
Tikait and many others, including activist Medha Patkar, have been touring the districts and asking farmers to give BJP a sharp turn down in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
He told that “farmers are under threat. They are not able to protect their produce. The BJP led in the middle of government at the centre is also bringing an amendment to the electricity act that makes it mandatory for people rearing more than one cow to apply for commercial connection”.
