PM Modi slams Congress for betraying “annadata” and using them as vote bank

Malout, July 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lambasted Congress party and held them responsible for not thinking about the welfare of farmers. He alleged that Congress always betrayed the farmers and used them as a vote bank.

 

Addressing a massive Kisan Kalyan Rally in Malout, Punjab, PM Modi said, "I know why for years you could fetch only 10 percent profit on the cost of inputs incurred by you. I know what was the interest behind this. Farmers are a soul of our nation, they are our 'annadata', but the Congress always betrayed them and told lies to them. The Congress used them as a vote bank."

PM Modi also stated that despite working hard, farmers could not think of a comfortable life and that they had to live a life of despair and despondency for decades because of the ill policies of the Congress-led governments. Taking a dig at Gandhi family, PM Modi said that Congress only worries of only one particular family and engaged in making them comfortable.

"My dear farmer brothers and sisters, you have always worked very hard irrespective of whatever the situation may have been. You have toiled very hard, but despite so much hard work, your life, which should have been happy, was of despair and despondency for decades,” PM Modi commented.

"The reason for this was that over the past 70 years, for most of this period the party to which farmers gave responsibility to improve their living standard, did not give respect to the farmer or the hard work put in by them. Only promises were made to the farmers and if they had any worry, 70 years of history says this, it was only for one particular family and how to make them comfortable," PM Modi noted.

Addressing the farmers who had gathered here from different parts of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan, the Prime Minister asserted that the NDA Government was committed to the welfare of farmers and hence it fulfilled the promise regarding the Minimum Support Price and approved a historic increase of 1.5 times in the MSP for kharif crops. PM Modi said that the move would significantly add to farmers’ income and empower them.

"During the past four years, the way you have been filling granaries with record production, I bow before you. Be it wheat, paddy, cotton, sugar or pulses, all previous records are being broken. Even now, new records would be set, this is being predicted," he added. He also slammed the Congress for spreading lies and rumours regarding MSP.

PM Modi further expounded several farmer friendly measures being undertaken by the Centre like 100 percent neem coating of urea, Kisan Sampada Yojana and e-NAM. He also highlighted how initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Mudra Yojana and Fasal Bima Yojana were empowering the farmers.

The rally was held to mark the unprecedented increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Kharif crops announced by the Centre recently. PM Modi also spoke a few lines of his speech in Punjabi to connect with the farmers of state quoting that be it defending borders and ensuring food security, Punjab has always inspired the country.

The public meeting "Kisan Kalyan Rally" was attended by a host of leaders from the SAD and the BJP including Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.