Notebandi marked the turning point for Maqbool Ali and his fellow farmers in the Baihar Cooperative Society, who have been stupefied by the sudden halt in their upward mobility in the sunrise State for agriculture in India.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a man thus far indefatigable for his very tangible efforts in improving rural connectivity, building markets, helping farmers diversify their crops and score double-digit agricultural growth, is facing the wrath of these very farmers who built their fortunes in his three-term tenure. In the Assembly elections scheduled for November 28, it is this restless and angry rural population of land-owning farmers, agricultural labourers who should worry the deceptively mild-mannered Chouhan, who steered the BJP to a stupendous victory of 165 seats in the 230-member Assembly, relegating the Congress to just 58 seats in the 2013 polls.

Anger against policies

In Balaghat, the region from where the State’s powerful Agriculture Minister Gaurishankar Bisen hails, the anger is palpable against a series of policy measures and pronouncements in which demonetisation stands out for its crushing after-effects.

Like Ali, scores of small and medium farmers in villages such as Tumribat, Malajkhand, Charegaon, Lamta, Chagotola in Balaghat district, discovered that life had been transformed since the pronouncement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016. It was a double-whammy as the immediate down-payment the farmers received for food crops such as paddy is carved out in infrequent instalments, and the high prices at which they sold their vegetables and fruits have come crashing down.

“Before notebandi, if I sold 70 quintal paddy, the total payment of ₹1.80 lakh will be made at one go. Now, I get paid in instalments of ₹6,000. This started after notebandi. I have sold garlic at ₹85 per kg. Now, I don’t get anything more than ₹3-4 per kg. From ₹70 per kg, tomato has come down to ₹12. The cash flow that was choked after notebandi has never been resuscitated,” Ali said.

According to T Haque, former chairperson of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, the farming community has been hit by a sort of double-whammy, where their earnings have come down steadily and the input costs have risen owing to rising price of diesel, pesticide and fertiliser.

“This will be felt especially in Madhya Pradesh where farmers had diversified into cash crops such as soybean in the Kharif season as well as fruits and vegetables while they received good MSPs and bonuses for wheat and paddy. The farmers have seen a level of prosperity and downward trend is more keenly felt,” Haque told BusinessLine .

So, while the Congress is typically self-destructing with its top leaders clashing over selection of candidates, giving away winnable seats such as Waraseoni to the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law Sanjay Masani, the BJP’s fortress in Madhya Pradesh is showing a breach. The contest is not from the Congress, but from the farmers, the agricultural labourers, MNREGA workers and petty traders who see demonetisation as a big fault-line.

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