‘First guarantee’: Congress promises law on MSP if INDIA bloc wins

Two years after they forced the Centre to repeal three farm laws before ending their year-long protest at Delhi’s borders, farmer unions from Punjab were once again marching towards the Capital on Tuesday, a day after talks with the Government failed.

Addressing a rally at Ambikapur city in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the law on MSP was his party’s “first guarantee” for the Lok Sabha polls. “We will also solve all other problems faced by farmers,” Kharge said.

While referring to the recent decision by the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on the late agricultural scientist  M S Swaminathan, Kharge took a dig at Modi, saying, “Green Revolution was brought by Swaminathan ji during (late PM) Indira (Gandhi) ji’s time. We followed what Swaminath ji said.”

“What did you do for the farmers?” Kharge said, “Our UPA government waived Rs 72,000 crores of loan. During UPA, the country’s loan amount was Rs 55 lakh crore but it tripled during Modi’s rule and now it’s Rs 150 lakh crore.”

In a Hindi post on X, Rahul wrote: “Farmer brothers, today is a historic day! Congress has decided to give a legal guarantee of MSP to every farmer on crops as per the Swaminathan Commission. This step will change the lives of 15 crore farmer families by ensuring their prosperity. This is the first guarantee of Congress on the path of justice. #KisaanNYAYGuarantee.”

Earlier, at the rally, Rahul said, “The BJP government at the Centre announced Bharat Ratna for M S Swaminathan, but it is not ready to implement his suggestions (on agriculture and farmers).”

“If INDIA (Opposition bloc) comes to power, we will give a legal guarantee on MSP. We are making a manifesto. We will work for farmers and labourers,” he added.

Party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “Our only demand is that PM Modi should directly talk to the farmers and provide them ‘nyay’ (justice),” he said. With PTI inputs

Explained: Changed stance

The Congress was evasive on making MSP a legal guarantee during the 2020-21 farmers’ protest. Even in its manifesto for the 2019 elections, it spoke of a panel to recommend “appropriate MSP” that would only be “ordinarily binding on government”. This changed in February last year when, at the AICC session in Raipur, the party passed a resolution for MSP to be “a legally enforceable right” of farmers and purchasing below it punishable.