Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserted that if the opposition INDIA alliance wins the elections, it will champion the cause of farmers and devise strategies to safeguard their interests. He pledged to exempt cultivators from GST and overhaul the crop insurance scheme.
Gandhi made these announcements during a farmers' rally in Chandwad, Maharashtra, where he was joined by NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, as part of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra organized by the Congress party.
The INDIA alliance government will be the voice of farmers and work to protect their interests. Mine and our (INDIA bloc) government’s doors would always be open for farmers, he said. The Congress leader promised loan waiver for farmers, restructuring of crop insurance scheme to benefit cultivators, to protect crop prices in formulation of export import policies and to make efforts to exclude agriculture from GST and work on only one tax.
Lok Sabha representative from Wayanad reiterated the Congress' commitment to providing a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee report. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi highlighted that 20 to 25 individuals in the country possess wealth equivalent to that of 70 crore citizens.
Furthermore, Gandhi accused the Narendra Modi government of forgiving debts worth Rs 16 lakh crore owed by industrialists. He said that this amount is equivalent to the budget of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) for 24 years, which allocates Rs 35,000 crore annually to provide employment opportunities for impoverished individuals.
Highlighting the actions of the previous Congress-led UPA government, Rahul Gandhi mentioned the waiver of Rs 70,000 crore in debt for farmers. He argued that if loans of affluent individuals can be forgiven, farmers should also receive similar benefits.
Furthermore, Gandhi criticized the Agnipath scheme, which enlists soldiers as Agniveers within the armed forces. He pointed out that Agniveers are deprived of pension benefits and martyrdom status, receiving only six months of training.