Rahul advises PM to visit Punjab to see farmers' distress

Says during Zero Hour that he wanted to apprise the House of pain and problems of state's farmers

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, fresh from his tour of wholesale markets of Punjab, today advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spend more time in India, possibly even visit Punjab to experience "first hand" the misery that farmers of that state are facing. The PM is scheduled to visit China in mid-May.

"Again his (PM's) tour is on the cards. He has come here for some time. He should visit Punjab and he will know firsthand what is happening to farmers," Gandhi said, as treasury benches protested.

Gandhi, who seems to have returned from his 56-day sabbatical with some vengeance when it comes to making his presence felt in the Lok Sabha, said during the Zero Hour that he wanted to apprise the House of the pain and problems of the state's farmers whose produce is lying in wholesale markets.

He said the government has let farmers fend for themselves in their hour of need. Punjab is ruled by a Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP coalition, and is scheduled for an assembly election in early 2017.

This was Gandhi's third speech since the Lok Sabha resumed its budget session on April 20. Gandhi was absent the entire first half of the budget session. Last week, Gandhi, not known to be particularly voluble in his two earlier stints as a Member of Parliament, spoke during a discussion on agrarian crisis terming the Modi government a pro-corporate suit-boot government and then raised a Zero Hour mention on the issue of net neutrality.

On April 19, Gandhi had addressed a farmers' rally and later followed it up with a pilgrimage to Badrinath. On Thursday, he is scheduled to visit Vidarbha in Maharashtra, where farmer suicides are the highest across the country, to hold a 15-km 'kisan padyatra'. Gandhi is also slated to visits parts of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana in the coming days.

Gandhi, the location of whose 56-day sojourn is still in the realm of speculation, said "while farmers in the mandis are crying, the Haryana Agriculture Minister is saying farmers committing suicide are cowards." Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan rebutted Gandhi's charge, claiming the Modi government had taken several decisions in favour of farmers.

Food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the daughter of in law of Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal, asked Gandhi why he visited Punjab instead of his parliamentary constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Referring to his 56-day sabbatical, the minister asked where he was when farmers were facing the fury of hailstorms and unseasonal rains.

In his reply, Paswan said Gandhi was "trying to become a martyr merely by getting a small cut on his finger". Paswan said 5.7 million tonnes of grains have been procured in Punjab out of 6.4 million tonnes that has arrived in wholesale markets. Paswan detailed the other relaxations, including allowing for more luster in the grains.