Congress Urges Passage of Law on MSP Guarantee in Parliament

The Congress called for the introduction and passage of a law ensuring a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for various crops during the current session of Parliament. The party also condemned the obstruction of peaceful farmers' protests as they marched towards Delhi earlier today, where the farmers were subjected to lathi-charge and tear gas.

At a press conference held at the AICC headquarters on Friday, Congress General Secretary and MP Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded that instead of using force against farmers, they should be allowed to peacefully come to Delhi to present their grievances. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet the farmers and address their concerns.

Surjewala pointed out that the farmers were merely asking for the fulfilment of promises made by the Prime Minister after their prolonged protest at the Delhi borders. He strongly condemned the use of force against the farmers and warned against pushing them into a situation like the one in Manipur.

“These are not terrorists, Naxalites, or criminals. They are farmers demanding what was promised to them by the Prime Minister,” Surjewala said.

The Congress leader also criticized Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for allegedly misleading Parliament. He accused the Minister of making five false statements during his speech. He said, “The Agriculture Minister claimed that the Modi government purchases all crops on MSP. It was the biggest lie as the government had itself admitted earlier that only one percent crops were purchased on MSP.”

Surjewala also questioned the Minister’s claim that farmers were receiving MSP with a 50 percent additional benefit over input costs, stating that the government had earlier told the Supreme Court that such an arrangement would distort the market. He pointed out that BJP-ruled states had documented that MSP was often lower than even the input costs.

Referring to the Agriculture Minister’s assertion that the BJP government had increased MSP by 100 percent, Surjewala rebutted this claim with actual MSP data from previous years. Regarding soybeans, he noted that in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the price was well below the MSP of Rs 4,892 per quintal, and farmers were still waiting for the Prime Minister to fulfill his election promise of purchasing it at Rs 6,000 per quintal.

Surjewala also addressed the Minister’s avoidance of questions about a legal guarantee for MSP and the refusal to provide loan waivers for farmers. “

If the government can waive off Rs 3 lakh crore in taxes for corporates and Rs 17 lakh crore in corporate loans, why can’t they waive off Rs 2-3 lakh crore in loans for farmers?” he questioned.