Are you an Akhilesh Yadav supporter? Do you believe in Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s politics? Are you willing to invest in the success of the BJP in Karnataka and the Badals in Punjab? No matter what your answer is, it is irrelevant. Every Indian is being used today to bolster the power of these regional satraps. Each time we buy a bag of sugar, we make a political donation.

The game being played using us is so ludicrously simple that success is guaranteed. To strengthen his hold on the rich Jats of western Uttar Pradesh, Yadav waits for the Central government to declare the assured price for sugar cane and then raises it by 16 per cent. This pleases the Jats who netted more than Rs 1 lakh per hectare last year. But Yadav knows that no UP mill will be able to pay so much for cane. Since there is ample sugar in the country, import is free, and competition from other states is fierce, sugar is selling at mill gate for Rs 31 per kilo. UP mills need prices to rise to Rs 34 to survive.

So Yadav encourages UP mills to clamour for trade barriers so that supply is curtailed, prices rise and consumers pay more. CII petitions the government. Indeed Yadav himself writes to the Centre demanding — hold your breath – a 60 per cent duty on imported sugar. At 60 per cent duty, prices will rise to between Rs 55 and Rs 60 per kg in retail against Rs 40 currently, already 25 per cent higher than six months ago. This way you and I will help Yadav keep his promise to voters with no pressure on his own exchequer. How easy is that?

In neighbouring Haryana, Hooda realises that this is a great formula for political gain bankrolled by the aam aadmi. He too raises the cane price to equal UP. Now Haryana mills are also clamouring for higher consumer prices. The chorus will get shriller as Punjab and Karnataka follow suit. Maharashtra mills are already paying more than the floor price for cane and want trade barriers. Faced with so much pressure, it is only a matter of time before the Centre caves in and raises import duty. In short, on every kilo of sugar, all too soon Indian families and food companies will pay the extra cost of populist games being played by five chief ministers.

Like all good strategies, it travels well across crops and regions. A few days ago, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan received the Krishi Karman Award from President Pranab Mukherjee for making his state India’s top agricultural performer. “It is a day of pride for Madhya Pradesh. We have attained that rare achievement, from a bimaru state to become the best,” he said, displaying the award, citation and cash prize of Rs 2 crore.

How did he achieve this success? For the last six years, Singh has been announcing a Rs 100 per quintal bonus for wheat farmers above the minimum support price. Wheat has suddenly become so lucrative for Madhya Pradesh farmers that cultivation doubled. Singh became a farmer hero. That the procured wheat is rotting because he did not set up enough warehouses goes unnoticed.

Luckily, this strategy can be easily foiled if the Centre plucks up courage. Instead of pandering to Yadav, the government should refuse to raise the import duty on sugar because its first duty lies with the 1.2 billion consumers. Mills should be sent back to demand compensation for any loss –CII puts the figure at Rs 3,000 crore — from the state government. Let Yadav do the balancing act between industry and farmers. After all, he created the problem.

Given our chronic food inflation and its impact on the larger economy, what we urgently need is a new rule wherein any state is free to pay its farmers more than the Central floor price as long as the extra payment comes from the state’s own pocket. Once they are forced to put the money where their mouth is, all chief ministers will become more cautious.

No one resents farmers earning better. But let their profits be decided by a free market and the actual demand-supply. Announcing artificially-high crop prices for political gain is a dangerous game perfected by UP and now spreading like wild fire. If it isn’t snuffed out quickly, more and more people will needlessly sleep hungry every night. And you can kiss interest rate cuts goodbye.