GUJARAT Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP-led governments at Centre and in the state for not keeping promises given to farmers during election times. The Congress leader accused Modi of double-standards with relation to farmers and equated him to a stage performer who is smart at talking but can't be taken seriously for his words. "In his (election) speeches, he said achhe din ayenge. He said the farmers who are realising cotton price of Rs1100, will get Rs1,500. He had accused that the UPA government was giving subsidy to mutton exporters while farmers were committing suicide. Now that he, is the PM, are you getting Rs1,500 for cotton?" Modhwadia, president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), said while addressing a sammelan of farmers in Lakhanka village in Chotila taluka of Surendrangar district. The farmers' meet comes two weeks after son of a farmer from Dharai village in Chotila taluka allegedly set himself on fire saying he was committing suicide to support farmers' demand for better cotton prices. Saurashtra is a major cotton growing region and cultivators are realising average Rs800 per 20 kg of cotton against Rs1,000 average price last season. Without calling his name, Modhwadia, said Modi was like Bhavaya (a folk artist of Gujarat who, along with a troop performs drama in villages) who could not be trusted for his words. "People say he makes good speeches. But even Bhavayas make good speeches. Can they be trusted for what they speak? A Bhavaya can act as a king in a play but would be begging on roads the next morning," said the GPCC president. While campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections early this year and Gujarat Assembly election in 2012, Modi had raised the issue of injustice to farmers by UPA government. However, Modhwadia said that it was the Congress-led UPA government which had written off farmers' debt worth Rs72,000 crore. "Entire state machinery is busy planning for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit to be held in Gandhinagar. On the other hand, farmers of the state are committing suicide due to low prices of agricultural commodities. We are not against industries, but farmers are also citizens and deserve attention of the state government," said the Congress leader. Gurudas Kamat, Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, accused BJP-led NDA government of overlooking interests of farmers. He said that the UPA government had enacted the Land Acquisition Act 2013 keeping interests of farmers at its heart. However, the NDA government was trying to compromise them while favouring industrialists by proposing amendment to the Act through an ordinance.
