Congress will provide MSP to farmers ‘legally’, says Rahul Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal, March 2

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said his party will provide MSP to farmers legally if it came to power, and accused the BJP-led Union government of ignoring farmers’ interests while working for big industrialists.

Speaking in Morena after his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ entered Madhya Pradesh from Rajasthan, he also reiterated the demand for caste census, and claimed that 73 per cent of the country’s population has no presence in most sectors of the economy as well as in the top levels of bureaucracy.

The BJP government at the Centre has waived loans of Rs 16 lakh crore of ten to fifteen industrialists but it is denying (legally guaranteed) MSP to farmers, he alleged. Farmer organisations in Punjab and Haryana are currently agitating for legally guaranteed MSP for crops.

“We have written in the manifesto, as soon as a Congress government comes to power in Delhi, we will give legal MSP to farmers of the country,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Farmers are only asking for MSP and the right price for their produce and hard work, but when crops get ready for harvest, the Union government changes its import-export policy to bring down the prices of agricultural commodities, he alleged.

Accusing BJP and RSS of spreading hatred, he said his party was trying to bring people together with love through this ‘yatra’.

Earlier in the afternoon, MP Congress president Jitu Patwari welcomed Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Ashok Gehlot on the border of Morena district. The Yatra resumed from Dholpur in Rajasthan in the morning after a five-day break, and is scheduled to reach Gwalior at night.