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The borders around Delhi are likely to witness a showdown again from Wednesday as protesting farmers have rejected the government’s proposal of a five-year contract to buy maize, cotton and three types of pulses at the old minimum support price. 

The announcement by the protesting farmers came hours after the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of farmer unions which is not part of the current protests, also criticised the MSP proposal. 

Addressing a press conference at the Shambhu border, between Punjab and Haryana, on Monday, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher declared that the proposal is not acceptable to them and the protesting farmers will resume their march towards Delhi in a peaceful manner from Wednesday. 

Laying out the reasons for rejecting the proposal, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said in Hindi, “The government made the proposal (on Sunday night) and we have studied it. It doesn’t make sense for the MSP to apply to only two or three crops and for the other farmers to be left to fend for themselves.”

“The honourable minister said yesterday that if the government guarantees MSP on daals (split pulses), it will put an additional burden of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. A study by (former Agricultural Price Commission chairman) Prakash Kammardi has, however, revealed that the total cost will be Rs 1.75 lakh crore for all crops,” he added.

Pointing out that the government spends Rs 1.75 lakh crore to import palm oil into the country, which he claimed is harmful to the health of the people, Mr Dallewal said the same amount could be spent on helping farmers grow oilseeds, for which MSP could be declared. 

Mr Dallewal claimed that the government is planning to give the support price only to farmers that opt for crop diversification and move towards growing those that will be under the MSP umbrella. This, he claimed, would not apply to the farmers who are already growing the crops.

“This will not help farmers. We have demanded MSP on 23 crops. The amount that is given is a ‘minimum’ support price, that helps with subsistence, not income. If they are not agreeing to a legal guarantee, it means that the farmers will continue to suffer. We have, thus, decided to reject the proposal,” he said.