At a time when farmers are dying, BJP embark on ad blitz on agricultural growth

In the midst of farmers' protests in MP and Maharashtra, the BJP government is highlighting its achievement in the agricultural sector through print ads.

New Delhi, June 8: Call it bad timing or the Bharatiya Janata Party's attempt to douse the ongoing farmers' protests in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. But the newspaper advertisements related to the saffron party's commitment to work for the interests of the farmers and its achievements in the agricultural growth just a day after five farmers were allegedly shot dead by police in MP have not gone done well with many.

On Tuesday, came the horrible story of five farmers being allegedly killed in a police firing in Mandsaur, around 320-km from MP's capital city, Bhopal. Several others were also injured in the firing incident.

The farmers since June 1 have been protesting. They are demanding waiver of loans and better prices for their produce, to name a few.

The shocking incident opened the eyes of many outside the state, including our politicians and the mainstream media, stationed in the national capital. In order to take control of the situation, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his team decided to come up with advertisements in local dailies detailing how and why the government was with the farmers.

Such advertisements were not just restricted to the state dailies. On Wednesday, the residents of Delhi saw a huge advertisement on popular English daily--The Hindustan Times--citing the Narendra Modi government's relentless work in pushing India's agricultural growth.

Print and television advertisements of ruling governments--highlighting their own achievements in various fields-- are not a new thing. They have been a regular feature in the previous United Progressive Alliance government too.

But the advertisements of the MP and the Modi governments have been criticized for being unsympathetic towards the plight of farmers, who have been forced to hit the streets at a time when their hard work have yielded bumper crops.

In spite of a good harvest, the buyers are not paying farmers even their cost price which actually triggered the massive violent protests in MP.

OneIndia News