"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisaan slogan is now Pite Kisaan, Jai Dhanwaan": Deepender Hooda slams police action on farmers near Kurukshetra

New Delhi [India], June 7 : Congress on Wednesday condemned the police action on farmers near Kurukshetra in Haryana, saying the crop sunflower seeds should be procured by the government on minimum support price (MSP) and accused the BJP of being anti-farmer.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress Member of Parliament Deepender Hooda said that the BJP government once again showed "its anti-farmer face".
"This government has changed Lal Bahadur Shastri's slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, which is famous in every village of the country. Now the slogan of this government is " Mare Kisan, Pite Kisan, Jai Dhanwan". The government has come down to dictatorship and incidents of lathi-charge on farmers have become common in Haryana," he alleged.
He appealed to the farmers to be patient. "If this government does not give legal guarantee of MSP, then there will be a change in 2024 and Congress will fulfil the demand of legal guarantee of MSP as soon as the government is formed," he said.
Hooda said sunflower seeds should be procured at MSP and demanded that "farmers injured in the lathi-charge should be given financial assistance from the government".
He accused the BJP of not fulfilling promises to farmers and of being "pro-rich" and said the party will raise the issues concerning farmers during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Hooda said that MSP of sunflower has been fixed at 6400 by the government but private buyers are purchasing sunflower in the market for Rs 3500-3800.
"The government kept giving dates on the date of starting the procurement and then it was said that it would be taken under the Bhavantar scheme. Even if it is assumed that the farmer will get Rs 1000 in the Bhavantar scheme, even then the farmer would suffer a loss of Rs. 1900-2200 per quintal. Farmers were protesting peacefully for the demand of buying Sunflower on MSP, but the Haryana government used the lathi system," he said.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said the government has not provided legal guarantee on minimum support price and crop had not been bought at MSP.
"Neither there is an MSP law nor the farmer is getting MSP. When the farmers protest they only get lathi-charged," he alleged.
Farmers continued their protest for the second day on Wednesday demanding MSP for sunflower seed in Shahabad in Haryana's Kurukshetra district.
The protest call was given by BKU (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni.
The protesting farmers alleged that the government was not buying sunflower seeds at the minimum support price, and they were forced to sell their produce to private buyers at around Rs 4,000 per quintal against Rs 6,400.
The protestors said they had given the government time till Monday but their demand was not fulfilled.
Police used water cannons on Tuesday to disperse the protesters and baton-charged them after they blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway.
Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police said that an investigation will be carried out in this matter.
"This is a National Highway, so the protest was blocking the way of many people. Following all the protocols, we asked them to leave. The situation is now peaceful. Some people were detained. An investigation against the people who took the law into their hands will be done. We will take the necessary action," the police said on Tuesday.