UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday lambasted Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam Party for doing nothing for the country's farmers during the six years of National Democratic Alliance rule.
Addressing a massive farmers' rally at Jaggampeta town in coastal district of East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh after dedicating the first phase of the Rs 600-crore (Rs 6 billion) Thota Venkatachalam Pushkara lift irrigation project, Sonia questioned BJP and TDP's credentials to champion the cause of the farmers when these parties were out of power.
"Today, those very leaders of BJP, TDP and NDA, who claim to feel for our farmers, are criticizing us. I want to ask them what they did they do when they were in the government, why did they not give such a huge loan waiver to our farmers when they were in power. What they are saying today is sheer hypocrisy," she thundered.
She quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as saying recently that 'if the farmers have suffered for so many years, there is only one reason and it is because of the wrong policies of NDA supported by the TDP.'
She recalled that in the four years of the UPA government, the minimum support price of rice has been increased by Rs 190 per quintal. When the BJP-led NDA, supported by TDP, was in government at the Centre, the MSP for rice was raised only by Rs 60 per quintal throughout their six years in government.
She said that on February 29, the UPA government gave the country a historic budget under the leadership of our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "A Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) loan waiver has been announced for the farmers. This is a historic announcement. This is going to be a historic scheme where crores and crores of farmers will have their loans waived. This scheme, I believe, will be completed by June 30," she pointed out.
"There are also some farmers who feel they have been let down. I am glad that Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy has announced that his government will take care of those farmers who, for some reason, are not going to benefit from this historic programme," she explained.
"For us in the Congress party, the farmer is our annadata. It is farmers' hard work and sacrifice that has made our country self-reliant in food. That has given us pride and the ability to stand on our own feet. Whatever we are doing, whether in the UPA government or Congress government at the state level, it is our way of repaying the debt that we owe to our farming community," she asserted.
Earlier, on her arrival from Delhi, she proceeded from Rajahmundry to Pushkara project site by a helicopter.
After dedicating the project to the nation, she arrived at Jaggampeta for the rally organised to mark the waiver of Rs 60,000 crore farm loans.
Expressing happiness to be amidst the farmers from Godavari districts-the rice bowl of our country-she told the gathering that their district ranked among the best in the country for the enterprise and hard work of its people.
She said that the first phase of this lift irrigation project would provide water to almost 200,000 acres of land. "This is a huge irrigation project which will benefit lakhs and lakhs of farmers in the Godavari districts," she added.