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It is advantage CPI(M)

Sunny Sebastian

The Congress faces an embarrassing situation The CPI(M) had kept the agitation of the canal area separate

JAIPUR: The success of the weeklong "padav''(siege) by farmers led by the All India Kisan Sabha here has left the main Opposition, the Congress, sulking. More than the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, whose Government has been the target of the farmers' anger, it is the Congress which has been hurt in the whole bargain.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated AIKS led the unprecedented mobilisation of farmers -- mostly from the areas irrigated by wells - in protest against the sharp increase in electricity rates, the half-hearted efforts of the Congress leadership here left the party in an embarrassing situation. At least some of the party leaders are now talking about possible erosion in the Congress support base among the farmers.

It is not that the BJP-led Government in the State did not have a loss of face. The farmers' foray into the capital adversely affected the image of the Government. . The fact that CPI(M) is a party with just one MLA in the 200-member strong Rajasthan Assembly and has less than even 1,000 card holders in the State, makes the whole development interesting. Hitherto the CPI(M) base in the State has been confined to Sikar district-- in which its lone Assembly seat, Dhod is also situated-- and to parts of North West Rajasthan, in the districts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. Around this time for the "padav'', which was the culmination of over 50 farmers' panchayats held in various districts by the CPI(M) and AIKS in the past, some 40-50,000 farmers reached the State capital on September 1 from as far as Jodhpur and Pali. The territories where the party could evoke sympathetic response included Nagaur, Dausa, Jhunjhunu, Churu and even parts of Jaipur district-- all the areas, where farmers would not have identified a red flag in the past! All this when the party sustained another agitation of farmers in the Phase I area of the Indira Gandhi Canal over supply of irrigation water.

Congress dilemma

The CPI(M), having planned the whole movement to broad base its following, had kept the agitation of canal area --being fought under the apolitical banner of Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti--separate. The Congress dilemma started from the time of the agitation of canal area farmers in September 2004. At the initial stage the party was in its forefront but after a few days the CPI(M) took over. The Congress, burdened with the decisions--either weak or wrong-- by its successive State Governments in the past over distribution of canal water, seemingly lacked the moral courage to lead. The Congress leaders, always wary of the reaction of the farmers of the Phase II area of the Indira Gandhi Canal--whose prospects of getting water would be affected by the intake by those in Phase I--dithered even when those still in jail in connection with the agitation include its own leaders. As an after thought or act of desperation, two days before the siege folded up, as many as eight Congress MLAs, led by general secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee Hari Mohan Sharma and PCC spokesperson Chandra Shekhar Baid extended support to the "padav'' even as the senior leadership remained silent. "We were losing ground. Many of the farmers who came here are not the supporters of CPI(M) or the BJP. The loss is of the Congress only,'' Dr.Baid said. Then it was too late for the Congress to join in--it missed the proverbial bus, or perhaps in this case, the tractor!

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