Maharashtra: With cane farmers’ protest, is Raju Shetti looking to regain lost political ground?
Traffic on the Pune-Bengaluru highway near Kolhapur came to a grinding halt last week as farmers led by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and former MP Raju Shetti camped on the bridge on the Panchganga river demanding better payment for sugarcane.
Shetti has been leading protests of farmers who are demanding an additional Rs 400 per tonne on the government-fixed Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for cane sold to sugar mills last season. The “rasta roko” last Thursday came after weeks of negotiations between the farmers and sugar mills failed to break the deadlock on the issue. The move is being perceived as Shetti’s attempt to find a political foothold in the Hatkanangale Lok Sabha seat, which he previously held.
Shetti and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana had carved a niche for themselves in Kolhapur and Sangli districts – which are part of the sugar belt in Maharashtra – and served as Hatkanangale MP twice before the Shiv Sena’s Dhairyasheel Mane defeated him in the 2019 elections.
The former MP’s dominance came from the union’s ability to negotiate higher-than-usual payments for cane farmers in the region. Each year, the Sanghatana and millers finalised the prices of cane, which usually were much higher than the FRP. The government’s failure to agree to the price led to the interruption of harvesting and transport of produce to mills by farmers. Union members resorted to arson, torching vehicles carrying the produce or locking field offices of the mills in protest.
Since the agitation, which comes after a two-year hiatus, Shetti has camped in Kolhapur district and also mobilised support for the agitation.
A former Congress minister who requested anonymity said Shetti’s agitation was aimed mainly at rejuvenating his base. “Over the last few years, the Sanghatana has lost many leaders and its hold over the cane belt was weakened. This agitation aims to ensure the organisation is revitalised,” he said.
Ichalkaranji’s Independent MLA Prakash Awade who has been supporting the BJP since the 2019 elections echoed the Congress’s views. He alleged Shetti had taken up the protest with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.
Shetti has denied any political motivation behind his protest and claimed his padayatra was across Sangli and Kolhapur, and even across areas which do not fall under the Hatkanangale Lok Sabha constituency. “If the agitation was politically motivated, I would not have gone into those areas,” he said.
The farmer leader has also announced that he would neither back the BJP nor the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections.
Shetti’s popularity took a beating after his defeat in 2019 as people were reportedly unhappy with his oscillating support for the Congress and BJP in his bid to make a mark on national politics. Another reason for his diminished political stature is the division between the predominant Maratha farming community, whose support he enjoyed, and the minority Jain community to which he belongs.
While sugar mills across the state began the cane-crushing season on November 1, the ones in Sangli and Kolhapur districts are either yet to start operations or are operating way below capacity due to Shetti’s agitation. However, the former MP has been firm on this demand.
Meanwhile, sugar mills have partly agreed to the farmer leader’s demands and decided to pay an additional Rs 50-100 per tonne of cane crushed last year. However, mills in Sangli and Kolhapur districts will continue to face pressure from Shetti’s organisation till the payments are made to farmers.
The protest comes amid the sugar-crushing season and is likely to result in a shortage of produce for millers. Fearing attacks, most transporters have refused to carry harvested cane thus affecting the operations of all the mills in the two districts. Only a few mills – 24 – in Sangli and Kolhapur, considered to be the epicentre of the agitation, have begun crushing operations. As of Friday, a total of 105.63 lakh tonnes of cane was crushed till Thursday in 161 sugar mills across the state.
