Bhopal: In a heavy dose of grit and grievance, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jeetu Patwari carried on his shoulder a sack of wheat, while storming into the officer bungalow of Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, seized during firebrand farmer pilgrimage at Bhopal on Wednesday demanding fair crop price.
Laced with jostling and slogans, the stunt highlighted debt-ridden tillers driven to desperation.
Accompanied by fellow Congress leaders and angry growers, Patwari’s coterie was stopped at the gates. Undeterred, the group sat, arms linked in protest on the road with Patwari repeatedly evading police cordons – five by my count – to break through the women’s perimeter. Things got ugly, but Chouhan cut short the confrontation offering to talk and meet with Patwari and others’ inside his home.
“We don’t want ‘bhavantar’ — (we demand) actual ‘bhav’!” Patwari also thundered in a video on X, slamming Chouhan’s pet price stabilisation scheme from his chief minister days as farmer fleecing racket.” He lamented skyrocketing input costs – seeds, fertilisers – and negligible payouts/loans, leading to suicides prompted by crop loss and debt. “Farmers not pawns for scheme jingles bring assured prices and solid fixes not empty nods!! he urged.
Congress raised the cry on X, citing five Ujjain farmers’ suicides from debt and losses. “Under Modi, our annadatas have tears of blood – no fair price, no fair payment. They need deeds, not dreams.”
The cops who were caught off guard with the unpermitted march slapped cases on Patwari and his aides for unlawful assembly. After the meeting ended, contrite Patwari offered a straight-faced apology to officials for their tussle: “If I’ve done wrong, please forgive me.”
BJP struck back, calling it a “social media spectacle” for Patwari’s personal shine, not the welfare of the farmers.
With Diwali round the corner, this grainy gambit reflects growing rural rift — will Chouhan’s ear stem harvest despair?
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