BJP has an anti-farmer track record: Congress

JAIPUR: On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Sriganganagar to launch a scheme for farmers, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and PCC chief Sachin Pilot said the BJP had a history of acting against farmers' interests. Gehlot said the 'soil health card' scheme for which Modi was coming was a Congress initiative that his government had already launched in 2009.
The ex-CM stressed that now even the BJP affiliated farmer organisations were openly saying what Congress had been pointing out that the ruling party's policies were anti-farmers. "The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasabha in Rajasthan and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch in Delhi has come out in opposition of BJP's anti-farmer policies," Gehlot said on Wednesday, while referring to Mahasabha president Rampal Jat's threat to protest on streets against BJP government's farmer policies.
Gehlot recalled BJP's Suraaj Sankalp Yatra that Vasundhara Raje undertook prior to the state assembly elections in 2013 and pointed out the electoral promises her government allegedly failed to deliver. "Farmers were promised that their crop would be given profitable prices and that the government would open permanent centres to buy their crops. The CM, on the contrary, is now bent upon destroying the farmers though her party was voted to power with a massive mandate," Gehlot said.
The former CM said his government (2008-2013) had given a bonus of Rs 150 per quintal on wheat and Rs 2 per liter on milk to farmers. "We had also provided subsidy on drip irrigation, sprinkler systems, solar pumps and water-tank constructions. The present government has not only stopped the bonus but has also cut the subsidy. Farmers are now forced to sell crops like groundnuts, bajra and maize at price lower than their production costs," Gehlot said.
He pointed out farmers' recent protests and clashes with police and administration across the state to buy urea, which was short in supply. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Rajasthan University Student Union function, Pilot said previous Raje government (2003-2008) had fired at the farmers of Sriganganagar region when they demanded water for irrigation. "BJP never worked for the farmers," he said.
Meanwhile, ex-CM Ashok Gehlot said the BJP and the RSS finally understood the value of Mahatma Gandhi which was why Prime Minister Narendra Modi at last invoked his principles for religious tolerance.
"After 65 years, BJP and RSS have now understood the value of Gandhi ji and, therefore, they have started calling him a 'Mahapurush' (great man)," said Gehlot, while speaking to reporters at PCC office.
AAP will lose its sheen soon: Hooda
Haryana ex-CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party would remain confined to Delhi and its popularity graph would dip within next six months. "People in Delhi will come to know about the new AAP government's performance and its sustainability in the next six months and it will shrink to its fold," he told reporters at on sidelines of a RUSU function. He added, "AAP will have no impact in Haryana and Rajasthan."
Referring to UPA government's Land Acquisition Act, Hooda alleged that by making amendments to the Act the Modi government was going to "deceive" farmers. "Farmers of Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana were not happy with the BJP rule as they were not getting actual price of their crop produce," Hooda alleged.
Rajasthan ex-CM Ashok Gehlot sought to equate AAP's ideology with that of Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress. Gehlot said AAP's poll manifesto for Delhi Assembly elections had the same sentiments that Gandhi and Congress followed. "They contested on our principles and won in Delhi," he said.