Task cut out for govt amid farm discontent

When farmers go to vote in an economy steeped in farm distress, the outcome can be cruel and capricious. Three recent examples should illustrate this point.
In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party emerged the single largest party in the November 2018 assembly elections and its promise of a farm-loan waiver was considered one of the swing factors. In the 2018 assembly polls, Congress won 63 of the 126 assembly seats in rural parts of Madhya Pradesh. But five months later, Congress could hold its lead only on 15 of those 63 constituencies in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress had also won a stunning 68 seats in the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly in November, leaving the BJP a distant second with 15. Two promises—a farm-loan waiver and₹2,500 per quintal minimum support price for paddy—helped the Congress rout the BJP which in 2013 had assured ₹2,100 per quintal but kept the promise in only the last two years. Come May, and the Congress, which should have won at least 9 of the 11 seats in Chhattisgarh going by its overwhelming performance in the assembly polls, could get only 2, while the BJP won 9.

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