The outcome of the recent polls in five States, in which the Congress managed to wrest three important States from the BJP, has shifted the focus once again to farm distress, and poll pundits have shown how big a part it played in Congress’s victory.
In Rajasthan it was hardly a walkover for the Congress as had been expected. In Madhya Pradesh, 15 years of anti incumbency notwithstanding BJP CM Shivraj Chouhan put up a tough fight and it was in the less high profile Chhattisgarh that Congress scored a really convincing victory.
But expectations that Congress President Rahul Gandhi would appoint young netas, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Rajasthan and M.P. CMs, were dashed.
The two satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamalnath flexed their muscles and after a high voltage drama behind the scenes, got the CM’s
Despite the two young leaders putting up a brave face before TV cameras, their disappointment was palpable. And once again it was proved that power is too important to be given up by the old guard. For the moment, both ‘new India and young India’ remain mere slogans.
At a time where name calling and shrill rhetoric have become the new normal in Indian politics, it was refreshing to see suave and sensible leaders such as Pilot and Scindia emerging.
Both maintained dignity and spoke in measured tones, without heaping abuse on the BJP. And Gandhi himself was restrained in the press conference he addressed as victory was in sight in the three Hindi heartland States. The arrogance of the victor was missing; there was much smiling but no sneering.
Raining farm loan waivers
Post these Assembly elections the Congresskept its promise and GOs on the waiver in three States were issued. Of course these waivers are nothing new and politicians across parties have used these prior to elections to woo farmers. Last week the BJP government in Assam announced a farm loan waiver, while UP and Maharashtra have already such waivers in place.
But there is no denying that waiving loans in only a band-aid solution and can’t be the panacea for the ills that plague Indian agriculture. A major flaw in such a move, even though politically rewarding, is that the majority of Indian farmers do not get loans from banks as they are at the mercy of private lenders. And periodic waiving of farm loans has a negative effect on the financial health of our banks, already rendered weak by the Nirav Modis, Vijay Mallyas and similar worthies of Indian industry.
Economists have argued ad nauseum that when State governments write out massive cheques to forgive farmers their debts, they are cutting into the scarce resources meant for capital and social sector expenditure. But that argument can be countered by simple question on money constantly being sucked out by our corrupt politicians, and big business defaulters.
And when you examine data on the negative growth in the food price index in recent years, analysed brilliantly by Harish Damodaran in an Indian Express article titled ‘How food prices lost their bite”, you have to go back to your food-laden table and ask yourself: Are we paying our farmers enough for the food that they work so hard, and against such odds, to put on our table?
And then invoke two powerful images: that of the onion farmer from Nashik who got ₹1,064 from the mandi for his 750 kg onions and in sheer disgust sent a cheque for the amount to the PM’s relief fund; and another one from a farmer throwing ripe and juicy pomegranates he had harvested as there were no takers at the mandi for this exotic fruit.
Let the Congress and the BJP play their politics over farm loan waivers; Rahul Gandhi’s tweet that he won’t let PM Narendra Modi sleep till a nationwide farm loan waiver is announced, is only a beginning. The rhetoric will get louder and more bitter as the 2019 elections approach. But at the end of this cacophony, if the Indian farmer benefits a little, and more important, if such waivers prevent farmers’ suicides, the rest of us can wait a little longer for acche din .