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Modi woos farmers and attacks Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal rally
PM Modi spoke about how farmers have benefitted from his government’s decision to ensure 150% minimum support price for farmers for their kharif crops.
Farmers are India’s breadwinners and villages the nation’s soul, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in West Bengal on Monday, as he challenged chief minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
“I’m grateful to Mamata di for the welcome she has given me by putting up so many posters of herself. I am grateful that she is folding her hands--it seems she is welcoming me,” said Modi at a public rally in Midnapore. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress had pasted Midnapore buildings with posters of Modi and Mamata and messages of what the parties had done for the state.
Modi alleged a “syndicate” around Banerjee dictated government work in Bengal, referring to allegations of corruption against Trinamool Congress leaders.
In his speech, Modi spoke about how farmers have benefitted from his government’s decision to double the minimum support price (MSP) farmers get for their crops. “Our government is working to double farmer income by 2022,” he said.
the TMC alleged that the BJP was running a syndicate that “peddles religious terrorism” and accused Modi of spreading “misinformation” against its government in West Bengal.
The BJP was running a syndicate of “fanaticism, lynching, torture, notebandi and corruption”, said a statement, jointly issued by TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee and its leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’ Brien.
“Try as you may to harass us with your agencies, we will not bow down to any BJP syndicate. Bengal is for all. It is the cultural capital of the world. The BJP leaders speech proved that they have no development agenda at all,” it said.
Modi earlier this month visited Punjab and eastern Uttar Pradesh to hold public rallies where spoke about his government’ work for farmers.
The government on July 4 announced higher MSPs for 14 crops, setting each of these at a minimum of 1.5 times the cost of cultivation, as it sought to address distress in the agrarian economy and ensuing farmers’ protests.
BJP president Amit Shah has his eye set on Bengal and other coastal states where the party believes it can win more seats in 2019 than it had managed in 2014 because of Modi’s popularity and decline of Left parties and little sign of revival of Congress’ fortunes.
