Surguja (Chhattisgarh): Amid the protest by farmers on Delhi border, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said the Centre has honoured Chaudhary Charan Singh, who championed for farmers' causes, and agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan with the Bharat Ratna but has been doing "injustice" to cultivators.
His remarks came against the backdrop of the 'Delhi Chalo' march call given by thousands of farmers demanding a law on minimum support price (MSP) and the national capital being made a virtual fortress with authorities stopping them from entering the city.
Ramesh said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met with farmers from Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday in Ambikapur Mandi as they marched towards the national capital to express their dissatisfaction at the Prime Minister's failure to keep his word when he revoked the three black farm laws in November 2021.
Shaming the Delhi Police and the Haryana Police, Ramesh said that the tactics employed by them to intimidate farmers and prevent them from exercising their legal rights are "blatantly anti-democratic and a manifestation of the sordid state of democracy in Modi's era". "There are good reasons why the farmers are rebelling," he said while addressing a press conference in Chhattsigarh's Surguja district headquarters Ambikapur during the Congress' ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
"A few back back, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Bharat Ratna (country's highest civilian honour) for great farmer leader Charan Singh and the 'father of green revolution' Swaminathan posthumously and we welcome the decision." "But the government, which has announced the prestigious honour for the two legends, has been committing injustice to farmers," he claimed.
Adding to this, he lashed out at the Modi Government alleging that the party has made every attempt to extort the farmers, ranging from attempts to change the land acquisition laws to benefit a few corporates to the three black farm laws that eliminate Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and Minimum Support Price (MSP) purchases.
Ramesh also targeted Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar for joining hands with the BJP and termed him "Palti Kumar" (one who does somersault). The government hasn't been able to guarantee farmers' produce reasonable pricing, he retorted saying that UPA government raised wheat MSP by 126 per cent between 2004 and 2014.
Criticizing the BJP's policies, he said that farmers would have received 3,277 per quintal of wheat this season instead of the present 2,275 if the party had raised the MSP by a comparable amount. Farmers are becoming more indebted as a result of low market prices and concurrent increases in input costs; since 2013, the average amount of loans outstanding for farmers has climbed by 60 per cent, he added.
Taking a dig at the party's schemes, he said that payment of claims for thousands of farmers covered by the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is delayed. The Government's own statistics indicate that in the years 2021 and 2022, claims made under the plan totalling around Rs. 2761 crore remained outstanding, he commented.
Beneath the exuberant rhetoric of tripling farmer incomes by 2022, there is a reality for the annadata: they are indebted, cannot make ends meet, and do not receive insurance payouts for their crop losses, Ramesh added lastly.
A party spokesman Monday said that Rahul Gandhi has chosen to shorten his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh by excluding the western portion of the state and saving five days. The decision was made due to board exams.
The yatra will enter Uttar Pradesh on February 16 through Varanasi and arrive in Amethi on February 19 via Bhadohi, Prayagraj, and Pratapgarh, state party spokesperson Anshu Awasthi stated.
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