Govt failed to keep promises made to farmers, says Rahul

NEW DELHI: Congress's Rahul Gandhi alleged Saturday that the BJP-led govt has not honoured promises it made to farmers and is prepared to sacrifice India's agriculture for its own interests.

In a Facebook post, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha shared the written response to a question he had asked the minister of agriculture in the lower House. Citing the written response, Gandhi said, "In the Lok Sabha, I asked a direct question to the govt: Why has the promise of a statutory Minimum Support Price - calculated at C2+50% - made to farmers in 2021, not yet been implemented?




"Evading a direct response, the govt merely reiterated its existing MSP policy," he said.

"The govt also admitted to pressuring states to discontinue MSP bonuses - a move it sought to justify, without any logical basis, in the name of 'national priorities'," Gandhi said in his post in Hindi.

He went on to add that there is another critical question: "The trade agreement with the US speaks of reducing "non-trade barriers".

Does this imply an intent to undermine the MSP mechanism and govt procurement? "The govt is evading this question as well," the former Congress chief claimed.

"We will continue to raise our voices - both inside and outside Parliament - to defend farmers' rights and protect the MSP," the Congress politician asserted.
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