Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Day 31: Congress promises farmers MSP surety after INDIA wins

Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh): The Congress on Tuesday promised a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for various crops, a long pending demand of farmers from across the country.

At a public rally on the 31st day of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi promised that once the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) government is formed at the Centre, a law will be enacted to provide legal guarantee for the MSP on various crops.

Kharge slams Centre for blocking farmers’ march

Supporting the farmers’ agitation, who are marching towards Delhi for the implementation of promises made to them, the Congress president condemned the attempts of the Centre to block their way.

Kharge said that not only will there be a legal guarantee for the MSP, but other problems faced by the farmers will also be resolved. “Congress had always watched and safeguarded the interests of the farmers,” he said and added that during the ten years of UPA rule, Rs 72,000 crores worth of farmers’ debt was waived off. “Modi has not waived off a single penny,” he said.

The Congress president said that they welcomed conferring the Bharat Ratna to the late MS Swaminathan and asked prime minister Narendra Modi to implement his (Swaminathan’s) recommendations for determining the MSP for various crops.

‘Swaminathan recommendations will be implemented’

Taking a jibe at PM Modi for his media campaign of ‘Modi guarantee’, he asked about the old guarantees like doubling the income of farmers, providing two crore jobs every year or depositing Rs 15 lakhs each in every Indian’s bank account.

Speaking on the occasion, Rahul Gandhi reiterated that Congress was committed to providing a legal guarantee for the MSP. He said the farmers were not getting their due and proper price for the crops they produced. He said, by the recommendations of the late MS Swaminathan, MSP will be fixed based on the input costs of the crop produced.

73% population neglected, says Rahul

Rahul said that there was grave social and economic injustice prevailing in the country. He observed that 73 per cent of the country’s population representing the OBCs, the Dalits and the Adivasis was poorly or negligibly represented in every sector.

Quoting the examples of ‘Corporate India’, consisting of private hospitals, media houses, and judiciary, he said, they have either zero representation or negligible representation of marginalised sections. He said that even in the government, their representation and participation in important decision-making processes was hardly five or six per cent.

Need for caste census

The former Congress president emphasised the need for carrying out caste census in the country. He said it would be a ‘revolutionary measure like the Green Revolution, the White Revolution, the Bank Nationalisation and Computer Revolution.’

He said that not only will the caste census reveal the exact number of people belonging to each caste, but also who controls how much wealth and resources in the country. He alleged that it was barely one per cent of the country’s population that controlled almost the entire wealth and resources of the country and the caste census will identify all those people.

Among those present on the occasion included Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal, general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh, party in charge for Chhattisgarh Sachin Pilot, former chief minister Bhupesh Bhagel, former deputy CM TS Singh Deo, PCC president Deepak Baij, CLP leader CD Mahant and others.