Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s farmers’ rally in Punjab’s Malout was an “epic flop”, the Congress yesterday termed him the “emperor of lies and king of rhetoric” as his speech was “laced with white lies”.
The party also said the stark reality is that the Modi government has betrayed the farmers in last four years on the solemn promise of Cost+50% profit to them, and it will raise the issue of farmers in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said: “It is time Modi faced the stark reality... the poor response of the farmers to his speech yesterday is a clear indicator of Modi losing grip on the narrative.” “Modi’s first farmer rally in Punjab after announcing the MSP (minimum support price) was an epic flop. There were no farmers in the rally, neither the rented crowd, nor their own BJP workers were impressed by his speech laced with white lies,” she said.
Terming Modi the “emperor of lies and king of rhetoric,” whose “lies are becoming popular across the world”, she said: “Modi in his speech came up with a whole set of lies and cons to mislead the farmers and the nation. He came up with the cost price which varies from the Commission of Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) 2018-19 report. 
“If you take into account the CACP data, the promise of MSP+50% is far from the truth. With the increase in cost factoring in the current inflation the MSP announced is C2+15% for paddy, C2+20% for ragi and C2+19% on moong etc.
“This is confirmed by agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan himself, who has drafted the Swaminathan report on the basis of which Modi made huge promises to the farmers of Cost+50% profit,” she added.
Countering Modi’s claims, the Congress said he had stated that soil health cards were issued by his government, though the programme was started in 2009 under UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government and 50mn cards were distributed by 2012 itself.
The Congress said that while Modi claimed that 9,000 soil examination centres have been approved by his government against 40-50 soil testing labs by the Congress, the UPA had in fact established 1,141 soil testing labs.
Also noting that the neem-coated urea was an initiative of UPA in 2011, the Congress asked the premier why he did not mention the PM’s crop insurance scheme.
Meanwhile Modi said the Congress and its allies were losing sleep as his government was taking many initiatives to improve the status of farmers across the country.
Addressing the rally Modi said: “The Congress is losing sleep over farmers getting their dues from our government. The Congress sat on all demands of farmers for years. They (Congress and its allies) are unable to comprehend what is happening now. They cannot accept the fact that the farmers of this country will get good sleep now. 
“Our government is trying to restore the respect given to farmers and soldiers. We have increased the farmers’ income by 1.5 times. We will try to double it by 2022,” the prime minister said.