BJP-Mukt Bharat & Farmers' Govt at Centre

Reiterating and reinforcing his active entry into national politics to bring in a qualitative change,Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao at a public meeting held in Peddapally on 29 August, asserted formation of a farmers' government at the Centre after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. For the first time, KCR gave an unequivocal call for 'BJP-Mukt Bharat' to protect the country from the harmful divisive forces and in the process envisioned the formation of farmers' government at the centre.

KCR in explicit expression of words criticised the union government for its anti-farmer stance like enacting the three contentious farm laws and many more against which farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, protested against at the borders of Delhi for more than a year. KCR said Narendra Modi had no option but to announce their repeal. This exhibited the supremacy of a united farming community of India which is imperative to cross all the hurdles and achieve the goals, emphasised CM KCR.

Chief Minister's announcement was a follow-up statement after he chaired a two-day marathon meeting on August 27-28 at his official residence, Pragathi Bhavan, in Hyderabad, with nearly 100 leading farmers representing various national farmers' unions from 26 States across the country. Prior to their meeting with CM KCR, farmers' leaders went around the state and had an exposure, glimpse and firsthand experience as well as physical validation of various welfare measures benefiting the farmers at large, being implemented in Telangana and not visible elsewhere in the country.

At the meeting farmers in one voice explicitly made it abundantly clear that the Telangana model is indispensable for all-round development of agriculture sector in the whole country. Farmers urged the Chief Minister to guide and support them on the anti-farmer policies being adopted by the BJP¬-led Central government, es¬pecially in wake of lack of support for the cultivation of crops and extending remunerative prices for the yield.

A few of the Telangana government schemes that the farmers studied were: Farmers' loan waiver; Rythu Bandhu; Rythu Bheema; 24-hour quality free power; Input subsidy; Appointment of AEOs; Farmers' coordination committees; Rythu Vedikas; Supply of seeds and pesticides; Mechanisation in agriculture; Tractors on subsidized price; Rythu Bazars; Mobile veterinary hospitals; Micro irrigation; Construction of godowns; Specialised markets; Ex-gratia for kin of farmers who committed suicide; sheep distribution; Dalit Bandhu; Construction of irrigation projects, Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya etc.

Overwhelmed by astounding results of the schemes, the farmers attending the meeting with Chief Minister KCR adopted unanimous resolution to form a National Farmers' United Forum to press for replicating the Telangana government's policies and welfare programmes for the farming community and the agricul¬ture sector across the na-tion. It was felt in the meeting that there is a need to organise a United Farmers' Organization to unite every farmer in every village of the country. This in a way automatically transforms itself into a nationwide mass movement, challenging the government at the centre and leading to eventual formation of a farmers' government as envisioned by CM KCR.

Astonished on knowing about the multifarious schemes benefiting the poor at large, and the farmers in particular in Telangana, a lengthy discussion took place on the comparative failures of the central leadership and governance during the past 75 yearsof independent India in addressing and solving problems of the agricultural sector despite availability of natural resources and cultivable lands in abundance. The focus was more specific to Modi government failures.

This is exactly where the farmers invited the intervention of KCR-kind of leadership to make agriculture a profitable profession across the country.The meeting adopted a resolution seeking him to lead the movement to unify farmers from the village level to the national level to take up a coordinated and well-planned strategic fight against the anti-farmer policies of the centre. Participants unanimously expressed the view that CM KCR may prepare an action plan and a blue print for the movement, to unite the entire farming community.

Responding to the plea of farmers, CM KCR called for putting up a united fight by combining the Parliamentary method and the agitation approach to secure the future of farmers and ensure their welfare. He said that history proved that movements and struggles not involving legislature bodies were failures in Independent India. He said that the separate Telangana Movement, which he himself pioneered, proved that everything is possible through combined efforts. KCR gave a clarion call to farmers to adopt a 'Telangana' model agitation to find a permanent solution to their long-pending issues. Before starting the Telangana movement, said KCR that, he spent thousands of hours of brainstorming with intellectuals having expertise in various fields. He could dispel people's doubts on the formation of Telangana state and made it a reality.

CM KCR gave a clarion call to the farmer leaders to plunge into active politics and get elected as peoples' representatives and enter lawmaking bodies to solve the problems of farmers. A strong movement can be built through parliamentary form, said KCR. The first step advocated by KCR was that the farmers' leaders go back to their villages and discuss the issues pertaining to them at field level as deliberated at the meeting with him. This is how the unity of farmers right from the village level could be exhibited and also demands of farmers from all over the country could be heard. Farmers' unions resolved to follow the path taken by CM KCR and combine both political and agitation approaches to address the long-pending issues of farmers.

The follow-up step deliberated and agreed upon was to have meetings with scientists, economists, intellectuals, journalists etc., at the national level and hold discussions. This would form the basis for preparation of operational blue print and procedures to be followed to protect the interests of country's farmers and agriculture sector. The organizational structure would be in tune with federal spirit at state, district, taluk, mandal and village level. The meeting envisaged establishment of farmer offices to connect North and South India including Delhi and Hyderabad.

Incidentally, a couple of days later, on the auspicious Vinayaka Chaviti day, the 31st August, CM KCR visited Bihar and had a meeting with his counterpart Nitish Kumar in Patna, to plan a strategy to bring like-minded parties together to take on the Modi government in 2024 polls. The Nitish-KCR meeting and later KCR meeting with secular leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was seen by senior political analysts as a significant step in the direction of achieving opposition unity for a BJP-Mukt Bharat as declared by KCR in his Peddapally public meeting.

"We must endeavor to drive the BJP out of power, by whatever means possible," reasserted KCR during a press meet in Patna after his meeting with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and in his presence. With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections due in about a year and half from now, what shape the BJP-Mukt Bharat and formation of farmers' government proclamations of KCR will take would certainly be a politically interesting development in the independent history of India. Let us await and watch the developments inquisitively.