Cong lauds SKM for recalling ‘Mandsaur firing incident’ on Chouhan getting agriculture portfolio

PTI, Jun 13, 2024, 2:44 PM IST

The Congress on Thursday lauded the Samyukta Kisan Morcha for protesting the NDA government’s decision to allocate the Agriculture Ministry to Shivraj Singh Chouhan and for reminding people that six farmers were killed in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur in 2017 when he was the chief minister.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the SKM said the farmers were “murdered” while participating in the massive struggle for MSP at the C2 plus 50 per cent formula given by the Swaminathan Commission, comprehensive loan waiver and against the growing trend of farmers’ suicide.
“The decision (allocating the agriculture portfolio to Chouhan) symbolises arrogance and insensitivity exhibited by the former regimes of 2014 and 2019 with an absolute majority to the BJP. It has aroused wrath among the farmers and the rural people across the country,” the SKM said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has done well to remind the people of the country of what had happened in Mandsaur in June 2017.
“The present Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan was chief minister then. Six farmers had been shot dead by the police in cold blood. They were protesting lack of adequate MSP for their crops and demanding a loan waiver given their acute financial distress,” he said.
“Incidentally, the Congress delegation to Mandsaur then comprised of a turncoat – who in March 2020 destabilized the democratically elected Congress Government in Madhya Pradesh which had begun loan waivers – and who is now Minister for Telecom and NE Region,” he said in an apparent reference to Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The SKM protested against the NDA government’s decision to allocate the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to Chouhan and held him responsible for the killing of six farmers in Mandsaur.
The six farmers were killed in June 2017 in Mandsaur after a group of farmers was fired at by the policemen and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans.