Rahul, Singh once backed FDI in farm sector: BJP
Item
Title
Rahul, Singh once backed FDI in farm sector: BJP
Description
New Delhi: On the day when a Congress delegation called on President Ram Nath Kovind against three farm laws, BJP termed the opposition party’s allegations “baseless and illogical” and also shared purported videos of former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi hard-selling FDI in retail as means to empower farmers sell their produce directly, increase storage and decrease wastage. Citing videos of the Congress leaders - from Manmohan Singh to Sonia and Rahul, supporting FDI in agriculture and asking for doing away with middlemen, BJP said they are proof of the opposition party's hypocrisy in opposing what they had proposed to do while in power. Talking to media, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi took a swipe at Gandhi calling him "perpetually young, disenchanted, frustrated and agitated" and said his "baseless and illogical" broadside against the government is in line with his nature. In the video, Congress working president Sonia Gandhi is heard saying farmers will get better price for their products only if they sell directly in markets without involvement of " bichaulias" (middlemen). “Farmer can get right prices only when he can sell his produce directly without middlemen,” Sonia is heard saying at a public gathering. Both Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi are heard making strong advocacy of FDI in the farm sector saying it will not only fetch better prices for farmers but will also save produce from damages. Terming allegations against the Centre as “baseless and illogical”, BJP challenged Rahul Gandhi for an open debate on what Congress did for farmers’ welfare when in power and what the Modi government has done for them. Union minister Prakash Javadekar accused Congress of ignoring farmers’ interests and keeping them poor to ensure cheap grain prices, and asserted that the Modi government empowered them by implementing the Swaminathan Commission report to give them remunerative prices through MSP.
Publisher
The Times of India
Date
2020-12-25
Coverage
India