The Congress party on Wednesday launched a fresh attack on the central government over its stance on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers. General secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a statement, questioned the government's reluctance to provide a legal guarantee on MSP despite repeated promises.
Rahul Gandhi, a prominent leader of the Congress, further engaged with a farmer injured in police clashes during a protest march, condemning what he described as the Modi government's authoritarian approach towards those vital to the nation's food supply.
In a post in Hindi on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked why the Modi government is running away from giving legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price for crops despite repeated promises.
In 2011, Narendra Modi, as Gujarat chief minister and chairman of a working group, had submitted a report to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which said that In order to protect the interest of the farmers, we must ensure through legal provisions that no transaction between farmer and trader should be done below MSP, he said. But till date, there is neither legal guarantee of MSP nor is it based on the Swaminathan formula of C2+50%, Ramesh said that according to the Swaminathan Commission, the MSP of wheat should be Rs 2,478 per quintal which is only Rs 2,275 per quintal currently. Similarly, the MSP of paddy is only Rs 2,183 per quintal instead of Rs 2,866 per quintal, he said.
Why did Prime Minister Modi fail to enact the recommendations of his own 2011 report? Why did he deceive farmers with repeated assurances of MSP? Today, India's farmers have lost trust in the Modi government. Only the Congress Party's 'Kisaan Nyay Guarantee' will provide a legal assurance of MSP to farmers, following the Swaminathan formula, Ramesh emphasized.