On a day Congress President Rahul Gandhi threw his weight behind the farmers protesting nationwide, Union Minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said the agitation will stop once his government announces the support prices for crops.
“They will get to understand when the prices will be declared. The agitation will stop then,” said the Union Minister for Human Resource Development.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the Narendra Modi government’s plan was to provide a “long-lasting” solution to the issue.
“I will not try to comment. I don’t want to subscribe (to) motives now for farmers’ agitation. People are seeing it and people are responding to it,” Javadekar told reporters at the Press Club here when asked if he sensed any political agenda in the 10-day protests.
In a tweet that came a day after the farmers’ protest began on Friday, Gandhi said he would address a rally in Mandsaur on June 6 to highlight the agrarian issues in the country.
Among the states where farmers are pressing for their demands including loan waiver and right price for crops are election-bound Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Asked if the protests would affect BJP’s prospects in the upcoming polls, Javadekar said: “Elections are coming up in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Ours is a democratic country. We don’t oppose anybody agitating. We are giving the solution which will be long-lasting and which will empower farmers.”
A few farmer organisations have also called for boycott of wholesale markets in states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.