New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday attacked the Narendra Modi government over a hike in fertiliser prices, and said this will put an additional burden of Rs 20,000 crore on the farmers.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi said the government has increased the prices of fertilisers, petrol and diesel, and lowered agri subsidies and income of farmers.
"What did Modi government increase? GST and petrol, diesel and fertiliser prices; income of 'Modi's friends'; atrocities on 'annadatas' even during the pandemic," he said in a tweet in Hindi, citing a news report about the rise in diesel and fertiliser prices.
"What did it reduce? Agricultural subsidy, farmer's income and dignity of the central government," Gandhi added.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala too slammed the government during a virtual press conference, saying its mindset is "anti-farmer" and it is conspiring to "loot" farmers by increasing prices of farm inputs.
He also alleged that the government wants to punish farmers for continuing their agitation to seek withdrawal of the three farm laws. The government wants to hand over farming to "corporate friends", Surjewala claimed.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government are bent upon destroying farming and is proving to be an enemy of farmers. It seems that PM Modi is conspiring to enslave 62 crore farmers and labourers," he told reporters.
Having brought the three farm laws during the pandemic, "the Modi government, which is 'anti-farmer', has now increased prices of DAP and other fertilisers that will put an additional burden of Rs 20,000 crore on farmers across the country," Surjewala alleged.
"We demand that the government immediately rolls back the hike in prices of fertilisers," he said. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Centre of diverting attention and said while deaths due to COVID-19 are increasing the vaccines are reducing.
He also shared graphs showing a decline in COVID-19 vaccinations and the rise in number of daily deaths due to Coronavirus. "Vaccines are decreasing and Covid deaths are increasing.
The Central government policy - Divert attention, spread untruth, make noise by hiding facts," he charged in a tweet in Hindi. India saw a record 4,529 fatalities due to Coronavirus in a single day pushing the COVID-19 death toll to 2,83,248, while 2.67 lakh fresh cases were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
With a total of 2,67,334 fresh infections, India's total tally of cases climbed to 2,54,96,330.