Nizamabad BJP MP D Arvind on Saturday came under scrutiny of farmers in the district who asked him if he will walk the talk and resign from his post since he was yet to deliver on his poll promise. During the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the first-time MP had promised to establish a turmeric board and get Minimum Support Price (MSP) for turmeric, which is the primary crop grown in Nizamabad region.
A meeting was held on Saturday under the banner of “Rythu Aikya Vedika” (Farmer’s Union Forum). The meeting which lasted for more than three hours, was held in the backdrop of the farmers renewing their protest by demanding the resignation of Arvind for his inability to set up the board despite being in power for three years. They said that they were betrayed by the BJP MP who failed to fulfill his promise.
Saturday’s meeting held in Choutupalli, Kammarpally mandal saw the farmers asking pointed questions to the MP about failing to live upto his promise, and asking him to resign from the post and fight alongside them. The farmers reminded him about BJP’s assurances during the elections and that Arvind had given it in writing on a bond paper that he would resign if he failed to get a turmeric board.
“What answer will you give to the farmers who had voted for you believing in your promises? If you are going to resign and fight alongside us we will worship you in our hearts, else you will face our brunt,” a farmer said. Warning of intensifying the protest another farmer asked the MP, “As you promised, will you establish a turmeric board or not? If you do not, we have no choice but to go back to protests.” He went on to say,“We do not have any other option other than to take our own lives if we have to sell turmeric at the present rates.”
At the meeting the agitated farmers made a resolution that they would not sell turmeric for Rs 5,000 - Rs 6,000. Some farmers who were highly sceptical about the BJP government constituting the board, asked the MP to at least set an MSP on turmeric for Rs 10,000. “We don’t know when the turmeric board will come, but we can survive only if the MSP is set for above Rs 10,000 this season,” said an aggrieved farmer.
Responding to the farmers, the BJP MP said, "The government was formed on June 30 (2019) and by September I had arranged several meetings between the farmers and officials. Then all the Union ministers like Piyush Goyal, Amit Shah and the Agriculture Minister got involved in it and got new farm laws which you all had demanded."
Arvind added, “I had promised of getting MSP, I will get it."
The farmers, who anticipated a direct answer from the MP, however, remained disappointed with his response, forcing an agitated farmer to disrupt his speech. “We want an answer regarding the turmeric board and MSP, not your speech. The farmers are asking you a direct question but you are diverting the topic by talking irrelevant issues,” he interjected.
Mild tension prevailed at the venue when some outsiders attempted to barge into the venue.
The meeting, however, remained inconclusive as the MP left the venue by saying that he said whatever he had to say and it was up to the farmers to decide.
The latest meeting comes days after several farmer groups staged a protest on January 9, demanding an answer from the BJP MP.
Establishing a turmeric board in Nizamabad has been a long-standing demand of the farmers, for which large-scale protests took place. One instance, which earned national attention of the farmers’ plight in the region was 178 farmers deciding to contest as independent candidates from Nizamabad constituency in 2019 Parliamentary elections, forcing the Election Commission to use ballot paper against Electronic Voting Machines. Some farmers also travelled to Uttar Pradesh to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi constituency.
It is believed that former TRS MP Kavitha, who is also the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, lost the election because she could not fulfill the promise of setting up a turmeric board. The protest against Arvind is likely to gather further momentum, as Congress party MP Revanth Reddy will be joining the farmers protest.