Pune: The ruling Mahayuti leadership in Maharashtra appears to have successfully convinced the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership in New Delhi, just in time, of the adverse political impact caused by the ban on onion exports and the minimum support price (MSP) issue of soyabeans.
The central government's decision to ease the export duty on onions and also take positive steps on soya pricing is perhaps going to help the BJP and its alliance partners in the state to some extent in the upcoming Assembly elections, and it may actually pose a challenge for Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, which has been campaigning hard on this subject among the farmers in Western and Northern Maharashtra in the past few months to gain political ground.
Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Amit Shah announced just two days ago that the government had decided to remove the Minimum Export Price on onions and reduce the export duty from 40% to 20% last week. The government also decided to increase the import duty on imports from 12.5% to 32.5% on soyabeans and other seeds such as sunflower, which will help domestic farmers sell their produce at a higher price. The BJP was quick to amplify the message in all its election campaigns and social media. The party has now launched a special campaign in many parts of the state to create awareness about this.
BJP leader Raosaheb Danve said, “The government has always tried to help farmers. But at the same time it was our attempt to ensure that the prices of onions and edible oil should not go through the roof. We also have to take care of the consumers. Now at the right time the government has given relief to the farmers. This year the monsoon has been good so farmers will benefit a lot out of these decisions.”
The Opposition NCP (SP) has been taking the issue to the onion-producing areas of Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Pune, Satara and Solapur districts. In every rally of Sharad Pawar's party the Opposition has gone hammer and tongs over the issue of low prices for soya and high export duty on onions. “The policy has been totally anti-farmer. The government is only concerned about the welfare of the rich urban consumers. The farmers will take a long time to recover from the problems created by the government even if some decisions are changed,” NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil said.
.jpg)
It will be interesting to see whether the rollback on onion export duty will benefit farmers in the coming weeks and whether they change their mind on the issue. Much depends on whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi is able to convince the farmers that they have been hurt for a long period and the rollback is now only for political reasons.
