Farmer drives tractor over standing crop, ploughs 12 bigha field; Congress attacks BJP government

In Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh, a farmer destroyed his soybean crop by driving a tractor over it after not getting a fair price. Congress has surrounded the BJP government over this issue and has raised questions on the government’s agricultural policies.

In fact, in a video that surfaced on social media, farmer Kamlesh Patidar, a resident of Deoria village in Mandsaur, is seen destroying the standing crop in his field with a tractor.

Sharing the video in a post on ‘X’, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said, “A shocking and worrying incident took place in Garoth, Mandsaur. Farmer Kamlesh Patidar ran his tractor over soybean crop only because the market price was causing him losses instead of making a profit.”

The Congress leader tagged Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the post and said that this pain is not of just one but of thousands of farmer families in the state. He further claimed that the BJP has failed to fulfill its promise regarding the minimum selling price (MSP) of soybean crop after coming to power.

The farmer said that he has 140 quintals of old soybean, which he sold at Shamgarh Mandi for Rs 3,800 per quintal. If the new price of soybean opens at Rs 3,500 to Rs 3,800 per quintal, then the farmers will suffer losses. He said that 4 quintals of soybean are produced on one bigha (0.6 acres) of land. Farmer Patidar claimed that till now he has spent Rs 8,000 per bigha and till the crop arrives, he will have to spend another Rs 6,000 per bigha.

The farmer said, “If the new price of soybean opens at Rs 3,500 to Rs 3,800 per quintal, what will we get? In view of this, I have destroyed the standing crop on 12 to 13 bighas (more than 7 acres).”

BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said that Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recently highlighted the agriculture policy of the previous Congress governments. He said that there has been improvement during the tenure of the BJP government, Rs 1.6 lakh crore has been distributed under the crop insurance scheme, apart from this, direct transfer benefits and other schemes for the welfare of farmers have also been started.

Chaturvedi said, Congress president Jitu Patwari should stop doing politics, as farmers’ issues are the top priority of the BJP government. It is solving the agrarian problems created by the Congress over the years.