Cong slams govt over farmers' plight, demands legal guarantee for MSP

New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) The Congress on Friday again demanded legal guarantee for MSP and accused the BJP of working with "vengeance" against farmers of the country.

The opposition party said the MSP be fixed according to the Swaminathan commission recommendation.

Congress leader Abhay Dubey said the government had formed a committee to make the support price transparent and effective and till February 22, about seven meetings of this committee and 39 meetings of the sub-committee have been held.

"On one hand, on February 22, the country's agriculture minister flies from Bhopal to Delhi and during the journey, he faces difficulty in sitting on the seat of the plane and creates an uproar on social media. On the other hand, farmers have been suffering for the past several years, but no one talks about them," he told a press conference here.

Accusing the government of being "anti-farmer", Dubey claimed as soon as it came to power, bonuses given to farmers were stopped, the process of taking away the land rights started and there was refusal to pay minimum support price above 50 per cent of cost.

"The BJP government of the country is burning in the fire of vengeance against the farmers to such an extent that first it brings ordinances to snatch their land rights, then makes cruel black laws of agriculture, then lays nails and thorns in their paths, keeps bleeding their heads and now keeps giving dates after dates when they demand legal rights to the price of crops," he alleged.

The Congress is presenting evidence to the BJP government for the legal right to MSP, which is already present with the government, he said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture (2024-25) presented its report in the House on December 17, 2024, in which, citing the meeting of 13 November 2024, it has been clearly stated that unless the legal guarantee of MSP is given, the farmers are not going to benefit, Dubey said.

The Parliamentary Committee also stated that the support price is not given as per Swaminathan recommendation of C2+50 per cent and has also recommended the implementation of this formula, he said.

"Two major states produce soybean in the country. About 90 per cent of soybean is produced in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. During the Maharashtra elections, the farmers there stated that the support price of soybean is Rs 4,892 per quintal, but we are getting a price even lower than that. Therefore, the government should take cognizance of it," the Congress leader said.

"The truth is that Prime Minister Modi has increased the cost of farming by Rs 25,000 per hectare," he claimed. PTI ASK ZMN

Source: PTI