Bhopal: A few parts of Madhya Pradesh witnessed violent agitation by farmers a couple of years ago owing to poor returns from agriculture and allied activities.
The widespread discontent in the agrarian community was a factor that helped the revival of Congress in the state where it came to power late last year as it edged the well-entrenched Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the assembly election.
The central Indian state recorded the third highest number of farmer suicides in the country. Villages are witnessing exodus of people who find agrarian activities unrewarding.
The Damoh Lok Sabha seat in central Madhya Pradesh grabbed headlines last year after a spate of farmer suicides. Laxman Kachi, 45, a resident of Sookha village in Damoh district consumed poison and committed suicide. He was under depression after kharif crops failed last season. Due to drought, he was not able to sow rabi crops also. Laxman ended up with a debt of Rs 90,000.
"My father was under tremendous pressure. We had already given the money lender Rs 90,000. The principal loan amount was Rs 50,000," Narayan Kachi, his son, said.
The then BJP minister of state for agriculture, Balkrishna Patidar sparked a row after the suicide.
"No one knows why a person commits suicide. We can only speculate what prompted him to commit suicide. Moreover, who doesn’t commit suicide! Businessmen commit suicide, even police commissioners commit suicide," he said.
Underlining farmers' anger, Dharmesh T of Mal Mangrh said the villagers voted en masse in the 2018 Assembly elections to end the BJP regime.
"Our intention was to pull down the government which was not doing anything for the welfare of the farmers. The new government has promised loan waiver. We have received the loan waiver certificate, but money is yet to come. Why is it taking so long," Dharmesh seemed impatient.
He said some villagers, including his relatives, have gone to the cities.
"Here there is no source of income; therefore they have to move to cities," he said.
Migration is an annual phenomenon in the Bundelkhand region which straddles the neighbouring states too.
Parhlad Lodhi of Kannera village, a first-time voter, said his family borrowed money from private lenders for his sister's marriage.
"We have to pay a huge amount as interest. I hope the government fulfills its promise after election gets over," he said.
In his election speech in Damoh on May 1, Congress President Rahul Gandhi promised to introduce a farmers' budget which would be presented alongside the national budget.
"We will let the farmers know all that we are planning to do for them so that they can plan accordingly," he announced.
On the same day, while addressing election rally at Singrampur in Damoh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said though the Kamal Nath government promised to waive off Rs 2 lakh, it has failed to do so.
"Now, when we ask them, they just keep mum," he charged.
Prahlad Patel is the sitting MP from the Damoh Loksabha Constituency. This confidant of former Madhya Pradesh CM Uma Bharti had defeated Congress' Mahendra Pratap Singh by a margin of over 2 lakh votes in 2014.
This time, the caste factor may work to the advantage of the BJP.
The Congress is hoping that the advantage of the assembly polls, when it gained in four assembly segments, would reflect in Lok Sabha polls also.
Damoh Lok Sabha seat has eight assembly segments: Deori, Rehli, Banda, Malhara, Pathariya, Damoh, Jabera and Hatta (SC).
There are 17,687,77 voters in the constituency of which 51,534 are new voters.
Polling will be held on May 6.
