Agriculture is among the most regulated sectors of the country. Maharashtra is the best example of how politicians manipulate policies to reap political dividends. Sharad Pawar built the political and business empire by influencing the agriculture and related industries through policy manipulation. The credit cooperative societies, sugar mills, agriculture market produce committee (APMC) were the instruments for Sharad Pawar to build the power base the politics of the state. If any party wants to dismantle the clout of the Pawar family, first the ‘instruments’ need to be broken. Devendra Fadnavis, the young and dynamic Chief Minister of the state is successfully doing this.
He has started the ‘deregulation’ of agriculture in the state and therefore the clout of the Pawar family is weakening. The first thing BJP did is to amend Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act and appointed ‘independent experts’ in the boards of cooperative sugar factories and APMCs. This broke the backbone of NCP as the leaders of the party dominated the boards for decades and these were important ‘instrument’ of power.
The second target of the BJP is cooperative banks which have been dominated by members of the Congress and NCP. The Fadnavis government passed ordinance in January 2016 to ban the directors of the cooperative banks which faced financial irregularities from contesting elections for two terms. This step effectively eliminated many NCP and Congress leaders from electoral competition. RBI guidelines suggested to cooperative banks for long but the Congress-NCP alliance government has not been able to implement this. “The two decisions in the cooperative sector were a clear sign that the BJP was trying to diminish NCP’s clout and create space for itself,”said Giridhar Patil, a Nashik based farm activist.
Another reform APMC was the government allowed the horticulture farmers to sell their produce in free markets. Earlier the farmers were bound to sell the produce to licensed traders of APMCs who were associated with NCP or Congress party. The traders in VidarbhaabdMarathwada region are BJP and RSS supporters but the Western and Northern Maharashtra which are most fertile areas of the state, the traders are associated with NCP. The government is expected to do the same for other agricultural products if voted back to power.
“The APMC decision is a very good example. A majority of APMCs in Maharashtra are dominated by NCP and BJP has not been able to conquer this field,” said Yogesh Jagtap, NCP leader and president of the Baramati municipal council.
Most of sugar factories in state are dominated by Congress leaders and has political link to APMC market. 70 percent if 200 sugar factories of the state are dominated thus and the APMC amendment would the clout of Congress party.
The Fadnavis government implemented Jalyukta Shivar, a rural water conservation programme to reform the irrigation in the state. The irrigation contractors are dominated by NCP members and the decentralization of water conservation through Jalyukta Shivar will break this unholy nexus. “For decades in Maharashtra, the irrigation and conservation schemes have helped contractors more than the farmers. But Jalyukta Shivar is trying to dismantle this nexus also by driving out the contractor lobby. In rural areas, the power to determine availability and distribution of water is a great tool to expand political patronage and if the BJP manages to achieve this, it would also change the social and political dynamics in rural Maharashtra,”said Mumbai-based journalist and veteran political commentator Prakash Joshi.
The steps taken by BJP government have started showing results. The holy nexus between the Agri business and NCP-Congress leaders has been broken by Fadnavis and this weakened their political clout. Staring at defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader and ex-Dy CM of Maharashtra went the extra mile to secure victory for his son, ParthPawar. According to reports, Ajit Pawar has personally contacted 80 BJP and 5 Shiv Sena corporators, in the industrial city of Maval, to lend a helping hand to secure victory for his son.