The magnitude, the intensity and the spread of violence are baffling.

On June 7, Swatantra Kumar Singh, the collector of Mandsaur was pushed around, his clothes were torn and he was hit several times when he went to persuade the kind of a man who was killed in police firing to perform his last rites. On the same day, the collector and SP of Dewas district were also manhandled.

What caused such unprecedented anarchy in western Madhya Pradesh, which is threatening to grip other parts of the state as well? How could a crowd muster the courage to publicly beat up a collector?

This is the second incident of a collector being attacked in the state. Decades ago, in a similar incident in Balaghat, the collector was paraded with a garland of shoes around his neck.

Two former chief ministers, some former ministers and ex-civil servants, including those who had served in Mandsaur, and politicians belonging to both ruling and opposition parties that IPA talked to observed that the last 15 years of BJP rule have witnessed a marked deterioration in the quality of administrators. Merit and competence are no longer the basis of transfers and postings. Political interference and pecuniary considerations determine the postings of collectors and superintendents of police. Earlier, only police stations and transport check posts were auctioned; now the offices of collectors and superintendents of police also go to the highest bidder.

As for the current violent agitation, preparations for it had begun two months ago. Messages were being exchanged about the preparations. It is learnt that the decision to launch the agitation from June 1 was taken on May 21 at a meeting held at Harda. Whether the government was aware of this development is anybody's guess. If it was not, then it was a total failure on the part of the intelligence wing of the police. And if was, and still nothing was done to deal with it, it is a singular failure on the part of the administrative and the political leadership.

Even after the agitation was launched on June 1, the police and the administration did not take it seriously. When it threatened to take a serious turn, in what seems to be an orchestrated move, the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh announced that it was supporting the agitation. And within hours the chief minister invited the representatives of the Kisan Sangh for negotiations. The talks were held in Ujjain and it was announced that the chief minister had accepted most of the demands. Immediately the Kisan Sangh announced that the agitation has been withdrawn. This infuriated the two Kisan organisations which had originally launched the agitation. This immature move on the part of the government led to a violent backlash, which soon spiralled out of control, forcing the police to open fire.

Even about the firing, contradictory statements have come. State BJP president said six persons have been killed in police firing. At the same time, state Home Minister said that the police did not open fire.

The series of violent incidents has put a big question mark on the government’s claim of being pro-farmer. It is true that farm production has gone up in the state but it is equally true that farmers are not getting remunerative prices for their produce.

Due to overproduction, prices are falling, with the result that farmers are unable to recover even their input cost. After a bumper production of wheat in the state, the government had appealed to the farmers to switch to pulses, floriculture and horticulture. The government did tell the farmers how to increase production but did not create the mechanism for the purchase of their produce. And that has led to the farmers virtually rising in revolt.

Last year, after the farmers started dumping onions on the roads following the price of the vegetable touching rock bottom due to the bumper production, the government decided to purchase onions at the rate of Rs 6 per kg. This year the government was aware that the production of onions would break all previous records. The organisations of farmers, ruling party MLAs and even the government’s own machinery had conveyed this to the state administration. But the government, which had suffered losses in the purchase of onions last year, decided not to purchase the commodity at MSP this year. After the violent protests by the farmers, the government backtracked and decided to procure onions. But by then it was too late. Had the government arranged for the procurement a month ago, the agitation would not have taken such a serious turn.

The waiver of farm loans by the UP government had aroused hopes of a similar relief to the state farmers. They were hopeful that with elections due next year, the government would go for the loan waiver to appease them. In fact, all sections of the people want to extract some concession or the other from the government in an election year. What added to the hopes of the farmers was the decision by Maharashtra CM Devendra Phadnavis to provide a platform to the farmers for direct sale of their produce. The Maharashtra government has also waived the loans of small farmers.

The crop insurance schemes launched by the Central and the state governments have failed to deliver and this is also one of the reasons for the growing anger of the farmers. Agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen says the farmers were facing problems as onion was not covered by the crop insurance scheme. He said the government would purchase as much onion from the farmers as they want and that the government had already conceded to all the reasonable demands of the farmers. “We will not allow farmers to face any problems,” he said.

Peasants’ leader Shivkumar Sharma says the government is fudging data to win the Krishi Karman Award. According to him, farmers are not better off than earlier. In fact, the condition of small farmers had only worsened.

Another question being asked is about the politics behind the agitation. Last night, this correspondent talked to Narendra Nahta, a former Congress minister hailing from Mandsaur. According to him, more than 40 per cent agitators owe their loyalty to the BJP. He said that the Congress party has nothing to with this agitation and that it is spontaneous. The BJP leadership is blaming the Congress for the violence but neutral observers feel that the Congress is in no position either organisationally or otherwise to launch such a violent agitation. The government, on its part, is in a state of shock and panic. The chief minister announced that the families of the deceased will be given Rs one crore each as compensation, besides a government job to one member of each family. Observers point out that it will set a wrong precedent. And if the government thought that the quantum of compensation would douse the fire of violence, it was mistaken. For, it was seen as a move to buy them out. (IPA Service)