KOLKATA: The West Bengal BJP will start a campaign next month among more than 70 lakh farmer families focusing on the distressed condition of farmers in the state. The party will also focus on issues like Farmers’ Bill and Kisan Samman Nidhi when the workers reach out to the farming community.
"Farmers in the state are not getting the right price for their produce. I come from a farmer’s family and I have seen from childhood that farmers do not even recover the cost of farming. Potatoes are thrown on the road and vegetables are used for feeding the cattle. The situation has worsened during the present government," said West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
"I have written a letter to the Union agriculture minister saying that the landless farm labourers are not getting any compensation although they work in the field. Naturally they do not have any document for land ownership. The land owner, who has no role in farming, usurps the compensation money for paddy and other crops,” Ghosh added. The government is now looking into the possibility of buying paddy from those who grow crops and not those who own the land, he said.
“We had reached out to 90 lakh farmers' families before the Farmers’ bill was passed. We do not see any holistic plan for the farmers, landless farmers and youth farmers in the state. The magnitude of deprivation among jute or tea garden workers is tragic. There has to be convergence of schemes for farmers,” said Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury, newly appointed national executive member of the Mahila Morcha.
Pointing at the perils of farmers in the state, Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said that BJP workers will now organize campaigns among farmers and marginal farmers and try to link them with the centrally sponsored schemes. “The Agricultural Technology Management Agency works with the state-run Agriculture Development Authority (ADA). These ADA offices have started behaving in a partisan way and are providing agricultural inputs to supporters of the ruling party.” Bhattacharya said.
The BJP karyakartas will start protesting in front of the ADA offices in the state. They will demand benefits of the ATMA scheme and soil test report card. Karakartas will also reach out to the farmers and make them aware of the Pradhan Mantri Maandhan Yojana to ensure pension benefits to farmers above 60 years.
