Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala today accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana of neglecting farmers, and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to fulfil his promise of remunerative crop prices.
Addressing a well-attended farmers' protest meet in Sohna, he said the Modi government had waived a huge amount of loans taken by a few industrialists, but it was not bothered about the crore of distressed farmers who had not got the promised rates for their farm produces.
The chief spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) demanded the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana fulfil the poll promise of implementing the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of the minimum support price (MSP) of farm produces.
The National Commission on Farmers headed by M S Swaminathan recommended fixing MSP at production cost plus 50 per cent profit.
The protest was organised at Anaj Mandi in Sohna by the Haryana Khet Majdoor Congress and Haryana Krishak Samaj.
Attacking the BJP government over the Mandsaur firing incident in Madhya Pradesh, Surjewala, a Haryana MLA, said, "The killing of farmers has exposed the real, anti-farmer face of the BJP. Majority of small and marginal farmers are under severe debt and feel compelled to take their lives due to wrong policies of the BJP government."
Six people were killed during farmer protests in Mandsaur in the BJP-ruled state.
Condemning the latest lynching incident, he said, "The people of India have always believed in respecting all religions. The politics of dividing people on basis of caste, creed and religion needs to be defeated in national interest."
Seventeen-year-old Junaid was lynched on a train last week, when he, along with his two brothers, was returning home to Khandawli village in Ballabgarh after shopping for Eid in Delhi.
Later, the Congress leader submitted a memorandum to the district administration, demanding waiver of loans of farmers and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.
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