Modi govt repeatedly blocked India’s farmers from making any profits, alleges Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of repeatedly blocking India’s farmers from making any profits in the last 10 years and claimed that the pattern of policy-making has been to not allow farmers to earn well when prices rise and leave them to fend for themselves when prices crash.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a day he held a rally in Hoshiarpur on the last day of campaigning.

“After peddling lies about the Father of the Nation yesterday, the outgoing PM is in Hoshiarpur for his final campaign event. Our last set of questions to him before the people of India, that is Bharat, bid him a long-awaited farewell,” Ramesh said in his post on X.

“If not India’s kisaans, will the outgoing PM guarantee MSP to Russia’s farmers? Will the PM raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs? Why does Adampur Airport offer only one flight route? Why has the Modi Sarkar failed to address the severe staff shortages at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh?” he said listing his posers to the PM.

Elaborating on the questions, Ramesh claimed that for the last “10 years, the outgoing PM has repeatedly blocked India’s farmers from making any profits”.

“Yesterday, it was reported that the Modi Sarkar plans to import wheat from Russia after the election, thereby pushing down wheat prices in India and hurting our kisaans,” he said.

“This is a long-established pattern in the Modi Sarkar’s policymaking. When prices rise, farmers are not allowed to earn well, as exports are banned and the market is flooded with imports. But when prices crash, farmers are left on their own, deep in debt” Ramesh alleged.

“The only beneficiaries are the PM’s 2A cronies, who have been taking control of grain storage and stand to profit from price fluctuations,” he further alleged.

Ramesh said the Congress has given two key guarantees to farmers in this regard -- that MSP will be given legal status and set according to the formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, and that a stable, predictable policy for the import and export of agricultural goods will be developed in consultation with farmers.