Babulal Gaur, the senior-most MLA in the Madhya Pradesh assembly. (File photo)

BHOPAL: Two days after police firing allegedly killed six farmers in Mandsaur during an agitation, fissures have started to appear in the BJP even as Shivraj Singh Chouhan government claims violence was instigated by the Congress party. BJP’s former chief minister and senior-most MLA in the Madhya Pradesh assembly Babulal Gaur on Thursday said, “Congress no longer has the organisational capability or the strength to instigate a farmers’ agitation of this size. Truth is farmers are furious across the country. The price of agricultural produce does not even cover the cost of production. And no one is willing to listen to their agony.”

While Gaur categorically denied the Congress’ hand in the violence, BJP national general secretary and former minister of the state Kailash Vijayvargiya trained his guns on home minister Bhupendra Singh. The home minister made a volte-face on his earlier statement that police had not opened fire on farmers and anti-socials elements engaged in the shooting. On Thursday, however, Bhupendra Singh admitted that the deceased farmers were killed in police firing. Singh’s about turn on police firing casued the government some major embarrassment.

Kailash Vijayvargiya took-on the home minister and said, “What Bhupendra Singh said earlier must have been on first information received from the scene of the incident. But a home minister should show more responsibility when giving statements after an incident like this. A senior cabinet minister of his stature should not make any random statement without knowing and cross-checking facts.”

Leaders from the state in the central leadership told TOI that the incident happened because of total intelligence failure both at the political and administrative levels. “How did we not know of such a massive agitation gaining momentum? The BJP in Madhya Pradesh has active workers right down to the booth levels. Did our party workers not have an idea that such a farmer agitation which was on for days before the firing was getting frenzied? Or did no one take our workers’ warnings seriously?” a BJP central leader from the state asked.

Babulal Gaur defended protesting farmers and argued, “Seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, electricity, diesel are all expensive and when the farmer cannot even recover his cost of production, it is understandable he would be annoyed. There is no cash in the `mandis’ and you cannot pay for everything with cheques. He is facing losses harvest after harvest and has no cash at hand. It is not just in Madhya Pradesh but also in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and even the south.”

The veteran BJP leader said that pained and angry farmers don’t even get a patient hearing. The district collectors won’t address their grievances, the MLAs won’t listen to them, the MPs are far too busy and that resulted in the violent out-break on Tuesday and Wednesday. “Congress is only benefitting from the situation but contrary to the claims made, they are a decimated force. It is unrealistic to even think that they can garner such a mammoth agitation across ten districts,” Gaur added.

