NEW DELHI: It was May 10, 2011, when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sneaked into the twin villages of Bhatta-Parsaul in the Jewar assembly constituency of Uttar Pradesh pillion-riding on a motorcycle. The man who drove him on the bike was a farmer leader and a Congress supporter Dhirendra Singh, who now is a BJP MLA from Jewar, about 80 km from Delhi.
Talking to TOI, while seated in his office-cum-residence in Rabupura village, Singh narrated the journey of farmers’ protest, the land acquisition policy and his shift from Congress to BJP.
PM Modi vs Rahul Gandhi on-farm laws
Talking about the ongoing farmers’ protest, Singh said, “The opposition parties and some farmers’ organisations have misled the farmers who suffered losses, ran into massive debts and committed suicide. The Swaminathan Commission (National Commission on Farmers) was constituted in 2004 to find out how the farmers would get remunerative prices for their produce so that farming did not remain a loss-making occupation.”
He said the commission submitted its report in three phases till 2007 but it was thrown in the dustbin because the government of the day thought they would get financially burdened.
The BJP MLA from Jewar said, “When Modi ji became PM, he took the Swaminathan Report out of the dustbin. You would have noticed that the MSP last time was hiked on the basis of this report. Swaminathan ji himself gave credit to PM Modi ji for implementing his recommendations in letter and spirit.”
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to bring investment in agriculture. A cold chain does not exist at the moment, which is a major handicap for the farmers. “Suppose I produce tomatoes in my village Rabupra. I immediately need cold storage, otherwise, the tomatoes will rot. Contract farming takes care of this aspect. It is in favour of the farmers as the profits have to be shared with them. Farmers’ rights have been secured in case of disputes.”
However, he said, some people are protesting the three farm laws without considering the advantages. They are misleading the farmers. Most of the mandis are in the grip of politicians.
Singh said, “Suppose ‘Shimla mirch’ (capsicum) is selling at Rs 5 per kg in my village and Rs 20 per kg in Bengaluru. Why should the farmers not have this right to sell it in Bengaluru in this digital age? Why should mandis decide the rates of production and not the farmers themselves?”
Dhirendra Singh said while PM Modi was trying to help the farmers and make agriculture a profitable occupation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was indulging in “stunts”. “The opposition needs some issues to criticise the government. Their intention is not to help the farmers but to corner the government as elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand are approaching fast.”
Land acquisition policy
The BJP leader said as far as land acquisition is concerned, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had stated clearly that not even an inch of land would be acquired without the consent of the farmers. Earlier, violent protests and police firings would take place during the acquisition of land. But a massive acquisition of 1,348 hectares of land took place for the upcoming Jewar international airport without any unpleasant incident, he said.
Singh said the acquisition of land for the Jewar airport has set an example for everyone. Earlier, during the rule of BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, a caucus of builders, government and bureaucrats used to exploit the farmers. The government would invoke urgent laws of the 19th century to acquire land. The builders and even politicians would buy land from farmers at a cheap rate of Rs 800 per sq metre and sell the same piece of land at the rate of Rs 4,000 per sq metre after developing it, he said.
Singh said, “I toured all the villages and educated the farmers about the manner in which they were being fleeced by the rich and the powerful.”
He said the farmers started resisting attempts to browbeat them into selling their land at dirt cheap rates. The resistance took the shape of a movement. It was hijacked by some aggressive elements. As a result, clashes between the farmers and police took place which saw casualties from both sides on May 7, 2011.
Singh recalled that the district magistrate was also injured in the firing. “In a revengeful action, Mayawati sent the DGP and the police dragged people out of their homes, thrashed them and burnt down their houses in four-five villages.”
Deeply anguished over the violence, Singh approached Rahul Gandhi and emailed him requesting to intervene and stop the injustice to the farmers.
Rahul agreed to visit Bhatta Parsaul. The police barricaded the area in a bid to stop him from entering the villages. “I am very much familiar with the topography of the area. I requested him to sit on my motorcycle. We dodged the police and sneaked into Parsaul and then Bhatta on May 10, 2011. The national media dawned upon the villages. The Congress leader went back to Delhi after he was arrested at night.”
However, as the issue got highlighted on the national level, the targetting of the farmers came to an end.
The people demanded to scrap the British-era law of acquisition of land. “This led to the formulation of the land acquisition policy in 2013. The Congress-led UPA government legislated the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The rest is history,” he said.
Shift from Congress to BJP
Singh rose in the Congress party as its UP spokesperson and social media in-charge. The party’s slogan in the state was “27 saal, UP behaal (27 years, UP in tatters)”. He had this slogan written on his vehicles.
However, as the 2017 UP assembly election drew near, Congress allied with the then ruling Samajwadi Party. “We were then asked to publicise the slogan ‘UP ko ye saath pasand hai’,” he said.
Singh could not digest it. He also had objections to Raj Babbar being made the UP Congress president. “I respect Raj Babbar ji as an actor but what are his credentials as a politician?” he said.
Besides, his supporters persuaded him to join the BJP saying it was the party of the future. “I also believed that if I had to do public welfare, the BJP under the leadership of Modi and Amit Shah ji was the most suitable party.”
Moreover, he said, the BJP too short-listed his candidature after their survey suggested his name as the most popular leader of the constituency. He contested the 2017 UP assembly election and got elected for the first time as an MLA.
