Average MSP hike was higher in UPA rule than BJP tenure: Tikait
New Delhi: Dubbing the claims of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of providing higher minimum support price (MSP) of agricultural products during the NDA regime than the UPA's tenure as false and misleading, the farmers' union on Friday said that the PM is lying as the annual increase in the MSP during the UPA regime was 8 per cent to 12 per cent, which is just 1 per cent to 5 per cent in the BJP regime.
Releasing a comparison chart of the average MSPs during UPA and NDA regime, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said that the lower MSP is the major reason that crops have not been purchased at the MSP in the last 3 years.
"The PM Modi's claim of higher MSP and implementation of Swaminathan commission's recommendations during the BJP rule is totally false and misleading. There was a 9 per cent average increase in the MSP of paddy in the UPA tenure from 2004-2014, while in the BJP's tenure (2014-2017) it's just 4 per cent," he said, adding that the average increase in the MSP of wheat during the Congress-led government was 9 per cent, while it increased by just 2 per cent in the BJP rule from 2014 to 2017.
The MSPs of arhar, moong was increased by 12 per cent each in the UPA tenure, while it increased by just 5 per cent in the BJP's regime when party's senior leader Radha Mohan Singh was the Union Agriculture Minister in the Modi Cabinet.
As per the MSP comparison chart provided by Tikait, the MSPs of groundnut and soybean was increased by 10 per cent in the UPA time, which was increased by just one per cent in BJP's tenure.
Slamming PM Modi for creating confusion over MSP, Tikait said that the PM had no discussion with either farmers or their unions. "The PM's claim of implementing the Swaminathan commission report is false as the panel had recommended C2 + 50 per cent to the cost, which has been 'cleverly' changed by the BJP to A2 + FL due to which farmers are suffering," he said, adding that weight of urea has also been reduced by 5 kg.
