In a press statement issued on April 5, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has accused the Modi regime of following an “anti-farmer fertilizer policy”. The peasant wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the hike in fertilizer prices.
There has been a hike of Rs 150 on a 50kg bag of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Rs 285 on the same quantity of a bag of Nitrogen Phosphorus Potash (NPK) fertilizers. The statement says that “the unjustifiable and hefty increase in the prices” has exposed the “Modi regime’s duplicity on the narrative of PM’s special love towards (the) peasantry.”
“The increase of fertilizer price along with (the) rise of other input costs — diesel, petrol, seeds, pesticides — (is) part of the larger ruling-class agenda to make agriculture unviable and uproot peasantry from their land,” says the statement.
According to AIKS, “the neoliberal model of development has resulted in the systematic dismantling of Public Sector Units (PSUs) that produce fertilizers and the nourishment of private capital who ventured into fertilizer production.”
The statement categorically says that “the Modi regime has consistently demonstrated its insensitivity to ensure the timely and affordable availability of fertilizers.”
AIKS finds it ironic that the BJP used “ultra-nationalism” to come to power but is now compromising on “the food security and thus national security of the country by going ahead with anti-farmer fertilizer policy.” It feels that the deregulated and privatized regime is “also creating a conducive atmosphere for the capitalists in fertilizer sector to go for black marketing and large-scale hoarding.”
The sufficient supply of DAP and NPK fertilizers at an economical rate is crucial for India’s food security, says the statement.
The statement terms the price hike “unbelievable” and one that is “mocking farmers”. The price of DAP was Rs 9350 per tonne in 2009-10 and now it is Rs 27,000.
AIKS has demanded the withdrawal of fertilizer prices with immediate effect to ensure “genuine patriotic interests.”
It has also saluted the farmers in Haryana who went into the streets to protest this “anti-farmer move” by the Modi regime.