On the day the Congress delegation called on President Ram Nath Kovind against three farm rules, BJP called the opposition party’s accusation “baseless and illogical” and also shared the supposed videos of former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, hard-selling FDI in retail as a way of encouraging farmers to market their produce directly, increase stock and minimise waste.
Citing videos of Congressional leaders – from Manmohan Singh to Sonia and Rahul, endorsing the FDI in agriculture, and calling to get rid of middlemen, BJP said they were evidence of the opposition party’s hypocrisy in denouncing what they had proposed to do while in office.
Talking to the media, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi called Gandhi “perpetually young, disenchanted, frustrated and agitated” and said that his “baseless and illogical” broadside to the government is in line with his nature. In the video, Congress President Sonia Gandhi says that farmers can get better prices for their goods only if they sell directly to markets without the intervention of “bichaulias” (middlemen).
Farmers can only get the right rates if they can market their produce directly without middlemen,” Sonia said at a public meeting.
Both Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi have been highly supported by FDI in the agriculture sector that they can not only provide better prices for producers, but will also save produce from losses. Erming charges against the centre as “baseless and illogical,” BJP challenged Rahul Gandhi for an open discussion about what Congress had done for the welfare of farmers while he was in power and what the Modi government had done for them.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar accused Congress of ignoring the needs of farmers and holding them low in order to ensure cheap grain prices, and said that the Modi government encouraged them by adopting the Swaminathan Commission report to provide them with remunerative prices through the MSP.
