Ally to BJP: Roll back farm laws or I quit -threatening to quit the NDA over the new farm laws

Rashtriya Loktantrik Party is the second ally to revolt after the Punjab-based Shiromani Akali Dal, which quit the NDA recently

Bharatiya Kisan Union members at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border on Monday after police imposed Section 144. : Picture by Prem Singh

J.P. Yadav   |   TT   |   New Delhi   |    01.12.20  :  Rashtriya Loktantrik Party chief and Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal on Monday threatened to quit the NDA over the new farm laws, piling pressure on the Narendra Modi government that has already witnessed ally Akali Dal walk out on the issue.

An independent Haryana MLA supporting the state’s BJP-led government, Sombir Sangwan, too resigned as chairperson of the State Livestock Development Board in support of the agitating farmers.

Although Beniwal’s party has just one Lok Sabha member, it wields influence over the politically important Jat community in Rajasthan, which has a significant presence in 10 to 15 Lok Sabha seats in the state. 

Beniwal, a vocal advocate of the BJP’s nationalist agenda who aggressively extolled Modi and castigated his opponents, had backed the new farm laws when they were passed in the Lok Sabha. But his party has been under pressure from its support base to publicly oppose the new farm laws.

The RLP is the second BJP ally to revolt against the farm laws after the Punjab-based Shiromani Akali Dal, which quit the NDA recently and has been backing the agitating farmers.

Beniwal’s departure from the NDA would make no material difference to the Modi government but could fan protests in Rajasthan, boost the agitating farmers’ morale and weaken the government’s efforts to portray the protest as “Khalistani” and “Congress-sponsored”.

Besides, it could affect Jat support for the BJP in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where too the community is politically significant.

“Mr Amit Shah, in view of the countrywide sentiment in support of the ongoing farmers’ agitation, the three recently passed bills related to agriculture should be immediately withdrawn,” Beniwal said in a Hindi tweet.

“The government must implement all the recommendations of the Swaminathan (farm) Commission and immediately hold talks with the farmers.”

In a second tweet, Beniwal said that if the government failed to act immediately on the farm laws, he would be “compelled to rethink” his “continuance in the NDA”. 

Beniwal, himself from the Jat community, tweeted that farmers and soldiers were his party’s mainstay. He chided the BJP government in Haryana for using force against the farmers who were marching on Delhi.

Officially, the BJP remained tight-lipped on Beniwal’s threat but party leaders privately acknowledged that it was a substantial blow and would help intensify the farmers’ protest.

Sangwan’s resignation in Haryana will increase the pressure on deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party, the ruling BJP’s coalition partner, which too draws its strength from the agrarian Jat community. The BJP’s government in Haryana depends on the JJP for survival.

Sangwan said that farmers from his constituency Dadri had joined the protest and that he was resigning in solidarity with them.