Cong demands Rs 2700 MSP for wheat, says party well-wisher of agrarian community

Suchandana.GuptaBhopal: The next assembly elections in the state may be more than two years away, but the state Congress on Thursday organised a massive Mumbai-Agra National Highway 3 blockage with farmers protesting against the Mohan Yadav govt on farm issues. A perpetually faction-riddled state Congress on Thursday showed unusual unity with party senior leaders, functionaries, in-charges, Rajya Sabha MPs, MLAs – all on the highway stretching the protest across 747 kms and 25 districts from Gwalior and Bhind in the north to Dhar and Khalghat in the south.Early on Thursday morning, state Congress president Jitu Patwari addressed farmers in a video message. He said, “My dear farmer brothers. This is not a matter of Congress or BJP. I am not speaking as state PCC chief. I am the son of a farmer and Congress is a well-wisher of the agrarian community, so we must fight for you. Under great compulsion, the Congress party has taken the decision to block the Mumbai-Agra Highway. Before elections, the BJP had made promises to farmers which have not been implemented.”Later addressing farmers during the protest, Patwari recalled that the BJP had promised to give Rs 2700 per quintal for acquisition of wheat, Rs 3100 for acquisition of paddy, Rs 6000 for soyabeans. “When we question the govt on this, they ask about former Congress govts. The Mohan Yadav govt announced 2026 as the Year of Agriculture and Union minister for agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan claims farmers’ incomes have increased eight times while the state’s farmers are distraught. More than 97% of farmers are burdened with debt,” Patwari claimed.Jitu Patwari further alleged that farmers are traumatized every year for fertilisers and seeds. “For 15 years, they acquired land from farmers for projects but did not implement the Land Acquisition Act to pay four times the rate,” he alleged. “Now, the govt says it will acquire only 30% to 35% of the total wheat production of Madhya Pradesh, which means that farmers will have to sell 65% of wheat produced in the open market at unfair prices. In that case, the govt must pay Bhavantar (difference in cost),” he said.The Bhavantar Scheme was introduced by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to pay the difference between the cost of production of grains and the price at which the produce has been sold – only in case the cost of production is higher than the price paid. This means that Bhavantar is paid when farmers have incurred losses.But Congress demanded that Bhavantar be calculated as a difference between MSP (minimum support price) and market price. Presently, the state is acquiring wheat at MSP of Rs 2625 (Rs 2585 paid by Centre and Rs 40 paid as bonus by state govt). Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, minister for MSME Chaitanya Kashyap said that the govt would acquire 100 lakh tons of wheat – an increase of 20 lakh tons since last year. “Forty-one lakh tons of wheat has already been acquired at a cost of Rs 6520 crore,” he said.The state Congress has repeatedly been raising farm issue in both the state assembly and outside. With approximately 30 months to the next assembly elections, the opposition party’s strategy is to impress on the more than 70% agrarian sector vote-bank.State BJP president Hemant Khandelwal reacted strongly to the Congress’ NH# Chakka Jam. Khandelwal said, “The motive behind this highway blockade is for personal political gain. It is an act of holding the public hostage, impacting even emergency services like ambulances. Congress has no moral right to agitate on farmers’ issues. The Mohan Yadav govt in Madhya Pradesh is working with full commitment, purchasing every grain of wheat from farmers. The previous Congress govt under Kamal Nath turned farmers into defaulters with false promises of loan waivers. Congress should clarify what the support price for wheat was in 2003-04 and whether farmers’ grain was purchased at that support price by the Digvijaya Singh govt.”