BackLand bill: On one-year eve, Narendra Modi to woo farmers in Mathura
Senior BJP leaders say Mathura was selected as it is in western Uttar Pradesh, a region big on farmer politics
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New Delhi: In an attempt to alter the perception that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is anti-farmer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting of farmers in Mathura and present the government’s case on proposed changes to the land acquisition law on the eve of the government’s first anniversary.
The public meeting is scheduled to take place on 25 May in the native village of Deendayal Upadhyay, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Senior leaders of the BJP point out that Mathura was selected after careful thought as it is in western Uttar Pradesh, a region dominated by farmer politics.
“The government wants to send out a message that it is not on the backfoot. We want to convince the farmers that the land acquisition bill is for the betterment of farmers and the bill will not take away their lands. The prime minister doesn’t want the government to silently take criticism on the bill," said a senior BJP leader who is involved in the preparations for the meeting.
“Since the public meeting has been organized in rural areas, we expect that most of the people coming for it will be farmers. This is a lean season for farming because the winter crop has already been harvested and the kharif crop is yet to be sown. Since there is very little or no farming going on, farmers have time. We have asked for nearly 20-25 acres of land for the public meeting," said a BJP leader from western Uttar Pradesh.
BJP members said that during the budget session in the Parliament, several farmer leaders from western Uttar Pradesh met Modi and that the government made efforts to explain the provisions of the land acquisition bill to them.
“Earlier there was a perception problem because the opposition parties had successfully managed to give false information about the government and also about the bill. But the situation has changed now. Farmers are no longer thinking that the government is here to take away their lands. We have managed to remove such perception against the government," the BJP leader added.
“Mathura is the worst affected district (in Uttar Pradesh), in terms of crop damage during the recent spate of unseasonal rains. We would expect the prime minister to meet farmers to understand their problems and expedite relief measures," said Dharmendra Malik, the state spokes-person of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), a farmers’ group.
As Mint recently reported in the series, ‘Fractured Farms’, several farmers committed suicide and died of shock after unseasonal rains and hailstorm damaged the harvest-ready winter crop of wheat in Mathura.
Crashing prices of potatoes were an added worry, and many farmers left the crop to rot in the fields.
Unseasonal rains across India damaged crops on 19 million hectares, nearly a third of the winter crop area—marking 2014-15 as one of the worst crop years in recent times after a deficit monsoon last year reduced yields. Lower prices of key crops such as rice, wheat and cotton severely stressed farm incomes.
“This is a very important public meeting. Western UP is a major area of rich farmers and industrialization. Jats have been a dominant community which had favoured Modi in the general elections. The audience will be favourable and there will be an attempt to convert the farmers in favour of the land acquisition bill," said P.K. Datta, a political science professor at Delhi University.
Sayantan Bera contributed to this story.
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