Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday shared an old tweet of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor where Tharoor championed for the engagement of the private sector in the storage of grains. "And now Congress thinks exactly the opposite," Javadekar wrote on Twitter, accusing Tharoor of hypocrisy.
In the tweet, which Shashi Tharoor had posted on January 23, 2010, he noted that India wasted more wheat every year to storage and distribution losses. And the amount of loss surpasses what Australia grows. "Real need for pvt sector 2move into grain storage," Tharoor had written, as seen in the screenshot shared by Javadekar.
Taking the accusation in his stride, Tharoor said the old tweet has no mention that he wants minimum support price (MSP) system to be abolished. "Prakash-bhai, Does my tweet mention or imply anything about removing MSP or amending ECA to allow hoarding? Or aren't you aware of farmers’ demands? Surely it’d be better for a Minister of Information & Broadcasting to stop Broadcasting Misinformation this way," Tharoor wrote.
{{/usCountry}}Taking the accusation in his stride, Tharoor said the old tweet has no mention that he wants minimum support price (MSP) system to be abolished. "Prakash-bhai, Does my tweet mention or imply anything about removing MSP or amending ECA to allow hoarding? Or aren't you aware of farmers’ demands? Surely it’d be better for a Minister of Information & Broadcasting to stop Broadcasting Misinformation this way," Tharoor wrote.
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The Centre and the BJP in its extensive campaigning for the farm laws have reiterated that the bills did not come to Parliament overnight. There have been years of consultations on this, Union leaders have said.
The BJP also dug out an old letter of National Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar where Pawar in the capacity of the agriculture minister had written to chief ministers to amend APMC Act to allow private sector in agriculture. NCP clarified that Pawar was trying to form a consensus among state agriculture marketing boards in 2010-11. But the party (NCP) did not support the farm laws against which the present protest is going on.
Farmers have been protesting the three laws as they apprehend that these laws will allow the entry of private players in the sector. Another contentious issue is MSP not being mentioned in the laws, though the Centre has reiterated that the system of procurement under MSP will continue.