At Ground Zero of farmer, Opp protests, Krishi Bhawan gets ‘image makeover’ with new faces

The five ministries based in Krishi Bhawan, located at Dr Rajendra Prasad Road in Lutyens’ Delhi, include Rural Development; Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare; Panchayati Raj; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The 12 ministers who used to sit here during the previous Modi government were Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and his two deputies — Sobha Karandlaje and Kailash Choudhary; Food Minister Piyush Goyal and his two deputies — Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti; Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh and his two deputies — Faggan Singh Kulaste and Kapil Moreshwar Patil; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala and his two junior ministers — Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Dr L Murugan. None of them have returned to Krishi Bhawan in the new BJP-led NDA government.

While half of these 12 ministers tasted defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, only five of them won, while the remaining one did not contest.

Krishi Bhawan has witnessed several protests by farmers as well as the Opposition parties during the last five years. (File Photo)

Among those who won, only Piyush Goyal, Giriraj Singh and Shobha Karandlaje have got a berth in the new Modi ministry, but even they have been allotted ministries which are not based in Krishi Bhawan. The other two winners — Parshottam Rupala and Faggan Singh Kulaste — have not been inducted into the Council of Ministers this time.

Among the six ministers who lost, only Dr L Murugan has been given a portfolio this time, but he too got a ministry based outside of Krishi Bhawan. Minister of State (MoS) for Food Ashwini Kumar Choubey was denied a ticket by the BJP, so he did not find a ministerial berth either.

Those who lost their elections include Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and his deputy Kailash Choudhary, MoS for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, MoS for Panchayati Raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil, and MoS, Animal Husbandry, Sanjeev Balyan.

Thus, the entire political leadership that used to work at Krishi Bhawan has been replaced with new faces. This is significant in view of sustained protests by farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, whose 2020-21 stir forced the government to repeal its three controversial farm laws. They have also been demanding legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops.

In UP, Punjab and Haryana, the BJP suffered significant losses in the polls. The party also suffered losses in West Bengal, where its tally came down to 12 seats now from 18 in 2019. Sources say the Centre’s “gambit of withholding funds” to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in Bengal under two Central schemes — the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) or PMAY-G — “backfired” at the hustings.

The funds under the MGNREGS to Bengal have been withheld since March 9, 2022. The amount of pending Central shares to Bengal under the MGNREGS and the PMAY-G stand at Rs 5,553 crore and Rs 8,412.91 crore, respectively. Thus, the Centre owes about Rs 14,000 crore to the state under these two schemes. The TMC MPs had raised this issue both inside Parliament and outside it — in front of Krishi Bhawan — but the funds were not released.

Both these schemes were previously handled by then Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh. In the new government, Giriraj has been shifted to the Ministry of Textiles, while Piyush Goyal — who was part of the three-member ministerial committee that negotiated with protesting Punjab farmers a few months ago — has now only retained his Commerce and Industry portfolio. Earlier, he also held the charge of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. In Goyal’s place, there is Pralhad Joshi now, while Shivraj Singh Chouhan has replaced Arjun Munda as Agriculture Minister. In fact, the then Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who led the three-member ministerial team in talks with the farmers, was sent back to his home state — Madhya Pradesh. Tomar contested the state elections in November 2023 and is now the Speaker of the Assembly there.

Observers say the immediate task of the new political leadership at Krishi Bhawan should be to reach out to the farmers who are still protesting at the Punjab-Haryana border seeking a law for MSP, among other things.

Kisan Shakti Sangh president Chaudhary Pushpendra Singh said the government should call 50-100 farm leaders and discuss sectoral issues like the demands for MSP legal guarantee and a hike in PM-Kisan. “The previous ministers were not ready to listen to farmers’ views. We hope the new Agriculture Minister will call 50-100 farmers and discuss with them all farm sector issues… The BJP has lost about 60 seats, most of which were in rural areas,” he said.