Moga, Punjab (June 29, 2014): Being ally of National Democratic alliance (NDA), Badals see a hike of just Rs 50 in the MSP by NDA as sufficient for MSP but he rejected the hike of Rs 60 United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the MSP was “meagre” increase for him. Even hike of Rs 170 by UPA was a little for Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
It is hard enough to judge whether Rs.50 greater than Rs.60 for Badal. Or for that matter can it be greater than even Rs.170. If you go by Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, it is possible that Rs 50 is greater than Rs 60 and Rs 170.
Not the ones to spare the UPA government at the centre in the past one decade on the “meagre” increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and wheat, the Badals have chosen to remain quiet when the successor NDA government announced the latest MSP for paddy, reported Hindustan Times.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Modi government, of which Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal is a partner, has announced a Rs.50 per quintal hike in the MSP for paddy at Rs.1,360 per quintal.
When the UPA government, which was in power at the centre from May 2004 till May this year, announced a hike of Rs.60 per quintal for paddy last year, the chief minister termed it as a “retrograde step to rob the farmers” and rejected the hike outright. Badal senior had even warned that if nothing was done for the plight of farmers, this could lead to a law and order situation.
On May 25 last year, Badal demanded that the MSP for paddy be Rs.1,800 a quintal.
“This is a retrograde step to rob the farmers of genuine margins of profit, thereby taking the plight of the already distressed farmers from bad to worse. Farmers, particularly in Punjab, would be further demoralized by this,” Badal had said.
However, Badal had nothing harsh to say this year on the Rs.50 per quintal hike.
This time, Badal meekly said: “The new MSP must measure up to the massive hike witnessed in the cost of farm produce during the UPA regime. The recommendations of the renowned farm economist Dr M.S. Swaminathan on fixing the MSP of farm produce must be implemented.”
Besides being an important alliance partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Badal’s daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal is also the union food processing minister in the Modi government. Harsimrat is the wife of Sukhbir Badal, who is the president of the Akali Dal.
In June 2012, Sukhbir Badal had rejected the Rs.170 per quintal hike on paddy MSP as a “cruel joke with farmers”. He has not said a word this time.
Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa took on Badal over the double speak.
Criticizing the “negligible Rs.50 hike”, Bajwa said that it was a “cruel joke on the farmers”. Rejecting the hike, Bajwa said that this was an indication of the worst under the NDA government.
Questioning the “deafening silence” of the chief minister over “this meagre hike”, Bajwa reminded Badal of his statements last year.
Bajwa also pointed out that the UPA government had effected a hike of Rs.270 per quintal from Rs.1080 to Rs.1,250 in 2012.
Pushed on the backfoot on the issue, Badal even tried to defend the NDA government saying: “I fully understand that the NDA government has to grapple with the most difficult legacy of the UPA’s 10 years of fiscal mismanagement and neglect.”