Congress

played ‘frontal role’ in violence, says Chouhan

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said no decision has been taken yet on offering a loan waiver to the state’s farmers. In an exclusive interview to ET, his first major media interaction since the farmers’ agitation in the state made headlines, Chouhan said farmers want good prices for their crops, and blamed ‘anti-social elements’ for the recent violence.The assertion is in sharp contrast to the farm loan waivers offered by the CMs of Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.Chouhan told ET that the state will analyse the issue carefully before making any announcement. “Farm loan waivers are becoming a popular slogan, but we have to think if that is what the farmers actually want. I have spent last two days with farmers. They want the best price for their produce and not waiver of farm loans.”The MP CM said 72% of farmers in the state had paid back loans to nationalised banks on time. “Defaulters are few in number and I think it is unfair on the large number of farmers who don’t default. In turn, we have come up with a samadhan scheme for the 28% farmers who have not been able to pay loans on time. We will assist them in getting loans at 0% interest.”Chouhan said farmers’ problems were primarily due to bumper yields in the state this year because of government policies on providing “best seeds, fertiliser and financial assistance to farmers”.“Agricultural productivity in MP has grown 20% annually over the past five years. Our procurement policy has been the best too, as farmers have been the top priority for me. These problems are because of the bumper crop and the flow of demand and supply, which need to be addressed,” the CM said.Chouhan said the biggest and only challenge for the state government was to ensure farmers get the right price for their crop and that there are good processing facilities for the produce.He said the state government is trying to mitigate farmers’ losses through decisions like buying onions at `8 a kg. “We have to figure out what to do with so many onions. There are costs related to logistics of storage and transport. We want private players to help us and we can subsidise them to the extent of 50%. If nothing works out, we will distribute the onions to the poor at Rs 2 a kg.”The MP CM said his government has formed a body to work out a formula to arrive at the right price for farm produce so that growers are not at a loss and are able to invest in the right seeds and market the produce.Chouhan also said the Mandsaur incident, where five farmers were killed and several injured last week, was not because of any farmers’ agitation. “I can vouch that none of the people who turned violent were farmers of MP. They were anti-social elements systematically organised by some forces, and given petrol, stones and matchboxes to create an atmosphere of violence. The truth will come out soon.”Angry protesters had ransacked and set ablaze a police outpost in Mandsaur following police firing on June 6. The Centre had rushed 1,100 anti-riot police personnel to the town as well as five additional battalions of paramilitary forces to the state to quell the violence.Chouhan had announced a judicial inquiry into the firing and a compensation of Rs 1crore each to the kin of the dead and Rs 5 lakh to each of the injured. One member each from the deceased farmers’ families will also be given a government job.The CM said Congress had played a “frontal role” in fuelling the violence. He also rubbished reports that there was a rift in the state party unit following the incident.Chouhan, who has been the chief minister of MP for 13 years, said he was in touch with the central party leadership on an almost daily basis since the incident and insisted that everything was under control now. He said it was notable that the violence had not spread to other parts of the state.The CM said he has visited families affected by the violence. “What happened was very unfortunate. I think people also understand who is responsible. I have moral faith in them, and they know I want peace and prosperity for all of us.”