False Promises By Modi And Political Dream of Yeddyurappa

After provoking sentiments of people from different religious communities and pitting them against each other, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now using the plight of farmers in the state of Karnataka to garner votes in the upcoming assembly elections. Addressing the gathering in Parivartana Yatra in Kalburgi, B S Yeddyurappa recently accused CM Siddaramaiah’s government of corruption. According to a report in The Hindu, “Mr. Yeddyurappa came down heavily on Mr. Siddaramaiah for urging the Union government to waive farm loans. In Uttar Pradesh, that State government, not the Centre, waived farm loan. As far as Karnataka goes, the Centre has cooperated in every single area.” In an interview with the Organiser – a publication by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Yeddyurappa, the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP has accused Siddaramaiah government of failing in resolving issues faced by the farmers. Speaking to the RSS’ mouthpiece, he said that the party’s agenda for this election will focus on agriculture. It read:

“Our focus will be on providing sufficient water to farmer’s lands, provide scientifically decided rates to the crops the farmer grows, and compensate them when the crop fails or is destroyed. PM Modi has already declared that one and a half time the market price will be given for the crops. This is a boon for the farmers. Our priority is farmers and their problems.”

In the same interview, he has claimed that the people are satisfied with the Modi government. “The performance of the Central government under PM Modi is beyond expectations, and people are full of appreciation. (..) Our own performance when we governed the State is why people will vote for us,” he said.

This article throws light on the confident stance of Yeddyurappa, who is sure about BJP’s capacity to win 150 seats in the state. Yeddyurappa is being seen by BJP as the perfect candidate to bag votes of Lingayata community and farmers. However, with Siddaramaiah’s decision to confer minority status to the Lingayata community’s religion, it would be difficult for the BJP to woo this section in Karnataka. On the other hand, farmers in the country are, in general, disappointed with the performance of BJP at centre.

The appreciation of the central government?

Though Yeddyurappa believes that “people are full of appreciation” of the performance of the central government, it does not change the fact that, farmers, workers and minority communities are not happy with the BJP government’s performance. Corroborating this, people in the country are coming to the streets, protesting the failure of Modi’s promise of “acche din” (good days). Farmers across the country are agitating and are protesting against the apathy of the Modi government towards farmers’ issues. As veteran journalist Subodh Verma recollects, Narendra Modi had promised farmers good prices for their crops, before 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He also had assured implementation of the price formula recommended by the MS Swaminathan Commission which was “a fixed minimum support price that covers the cost of production and gives an additional 50% of that to the farmer.” Noting Modi’s failure in keeping this promise, Verma writes, “More than three years have passed since Modi won the election and became the Prime Minister. But there is no talk of this promise. In fact, the agriculture minister even denied in Parliament that such a promise was made.”  

All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) has calculated the loss incurred by the farmers in the country this year, which comes to Rs. 2 lakh crore. Verma, citing the findings of R. Ramkumar, professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, explains the reason for such a massive loss,

“Steadily rising input costs, like fuel, pesticides and fertilizers and even water, slashing of subsidies by the government, are some of the key factors behind this skew in cost versus income imbalance. Another major factor is the opening up of economy to agricultural imports and integration of India’s production with global markets that causes local prices to crash, as has happened in tea, groundnut, rubber etc. Between 1990-91 and 2011-12, while agricultural exports grew at an annual rate of about 13%, agricultural imports grew at a faster rate of about 21%.”

The central government is interested in industries and has also often been called anti-farmer. Farmers from across the country had congregated in Delhi on November 20 and 21, last year, with an aim to remind Modi and his government of his promises. Leaders of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) explained the reason behind the congregation:

“It is to address this loot of farmers that we are congregating in large numbers in Delhi on November 20th 2017 in a Kisan Mukti Sansad (a farmers’ freedom parliament) to be organised on Parliament Street. Full remunerative prices as a legal entitlement with correct cost estimations and at least a 50% profit margin over the cost of production, for all farmers and commodities, is our main demand, in addition to a demand for freedom from debt, that includes a comprehensive immediate loan waiver as well as statutory institutional mechanism that addresses farmers’ indebtedness on an ongoing basis.”

So much for the “appreciation” for the performance of Modi. Yeddyurappa and BJP are ignoring the existing demands. They have failed in fulfilling yesterday’s promises, but are busy is making new promises.

“Son of soil” and “Raitha Bandhu” Yeddyurappa in 2008

Yeddyurappa was the first BJP chief minister of Karnataka. He had taken oath in the name of "God and the farmers of the state.” He had to resign in 2011 just after two years in the office, after the Karnataka Lokayukta directed an investigation of his involvement in the infamous Bellary mining scam. He was succeeded then by Sadananda Gowda till 2013, followed by Siddaramaiah, who formed the government after winning 2013 assembly elections. Yeddyurappa is yet again contesting this election with a great sense of hope for victory.

K.P Suresh, a columnist, translator and activist based in Mysore spoke to Newsclick about Yeddyurappas’s rule in the state. He recollected the circumstances in which Yeddyurappa was elected in 2008. He said, “H D Kumarswamy broke his promise that he had made. This had registered in the minds of people of Karnataka, and it had given rise to sympathy for Yeddyurappa. This is why he won and not because of anything else. The results of 2008 elections should be looked at, against this backdrop.”

JD(S) and BJP had formed a coalition government in 2006, in Karnataka. The parties had decided that Kumaraswamy would be the CM for first 20 months, followed by Yeddyurappa of BJP. It is this promise that Suresh is referring to. His victory in 2008 was indeed because of the sympathy, and BJP’s loss in the 2013 elections can be an evidence of this.

Speaking about Yeddyurappa’s belief that people in Karnataka are happy about the performance of his government in 2008, Suresh said, “Yeddyurappa’s rule was a nightmare and people are not happy. People remember the five years of BJP very much. If they critique Siddaramaiah’s government for things that haven’t worked, this critique is always followed by even more vehement critique of the BJP.”

A farmers’ rally was organised to celebrate 75th Birthday of Yeddyurappa in Davangere in February 2018. The rally was called “Raitha Bandhu Yeddyurappa” rally (farmer-friendly Yeddyurappa rally). PM Narendra Modi was present for this rally, in an attempt to woo the farmers of the state. According to the report in Livemint, Modi said, “If you want to change the fortunes of Bharat, then farmers’ fortunes must change.” The protesting farmers are trying to send this exact message to the PM Modi. On February 4, 2018, PM, addressed a large gathering during the concluding event of Parivartan Rally in Bangalore. It was during this meeting that Modi had declared what their ‘TOP’ priority was. “When I say TOP, I mean whichever part of the country you go, three vegetables are very much visible — Tomato, Onion and Potato.” This was seen by many as an election tactic, and tokenistic and nothing more than that.

Suresh said that no one in Karnataka thinks of Yeddyurappa as the “son of soil” any longer. Explaining this further, he pointed out that Yeddyurappa is just a symbol that BJP is using to rise to power in the state. There is no other explanation for Yeddyurappa’s silence in the rallies. Suresh also observed that the BJP has been criticising the performance of the Congress government in the agriculture sector during its campaigns, but  is not speaking about their own plans. Modi and Shah are seen just saying populist one-liners like “TOP priority”.

If Yeddyurappa believes that people of Karnataka are happy with the BJP and Modi’s performance at the centre and the history of Yeddyurappa and BJP in the state, the reality is far away from this illusion. As Suresh points out, what people of Karnataka are observing is the effort by the BJP to implement Modi-Shah leadership model everywhere and BJP’s desperation to win this election.