By Quaid Najmi & Anand Singh

Mumbai, May 19 (IANS): Slamming the recent steep increase in prices of all fertilisers used by farmers, the Congress' Maharashtra unit on Wednesday served an ultimatum to the Centre to roll back the hike within 48 hours or face protests.

State Congress President Nana F. Patole also warned that if the Centre fails to comply with the demand, the party will launch a state-wide 'bell-ringing protest'.

Addressing media persons here, he said that after introducing the 3 new "anti-farmers" laws last year, now the government has intensified its campaign "to uproot the farmers" by raising the prices of chemical fertilisers.

"The 'death of the farmers' seems to be the policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. The new price hike, coming during a period of nearly 15 months of lockdown, will make it unaffordable and unviable for farmers to cultivate besides enslaving them to moneylenders and multinational corporations," Patole added.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Congress had on Tuesday attacked the Centre for the price hike of fertilisers when the monsoon and sowing season are at the doorstep, and the issue was first highlighted by IANS on Tuesday.

Reiterating that the three farm laws are "black agricultural laws", the state Congress chief said that now with the fertiliser prices shooting up, it will prove a death knell for the poor peasants who are already burdened with heavy rates of diesel-petrol, runaway inflation, pandemic/lockdown losses and other problems.

"The government was shouting that Rs 2,000 was deposited in farmers' accounts. But, the very next day, by the steep hikes in fertiliser prices, the Modi government is actually looting the farmers and enriching his industrialist friends," said Patole.

He added that when the entire economy was tumbling during the pandemic and lockdown, only the agriculture sector was doing well, but instead of supporting the nation's food-givers, the government has allowed the huge hikes in fertiliser prices.

First to red-flag the issue on Tuesday, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar shot off a letter to Union Chemicals & Fertilisers Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, terming the price hike as an "unfortunate decision", and sought an immediate rollback.

The former Union Agriculture Minister said that instead of helping the distressed farming community in these difficult times, the exponential hikes in prices of fertilisers would directly hamper the pre-sowing activities, affect the production costs and productivity of the crops.

Questioning the silence of Modi and Gowda, Shiv Sena's farmer leader Kishore Tiwari - accorded a MoS status - demanded to know why it was allowed a day after the PM's highly-publicised Rs 2,000 dole to farmers.

Suspecting it was "a pre-planned move", Tiwari warned that unless the price hikes are withdrawn, it could lead to another spurt in farmland suicides all over India and further aggravate the already critical agro-crises in the country.

As per the price lists in the markets, all major public and private companies including IFFCO, IPL, GSFC, Mahadhan and others have effected sharp revision in prices of all major fertilisers used by the farming community across India.