The Congress party appears to be zeroing in on the agrarian distress as its main line of attack on the Narendra Modi government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as evidenced from the intense focus on agricultural issues in the manifestos for the ongoing assembly polls. The party is keenly interested in the farmers' rally scheduled to be held in the national capital on November 30 and it also plans to take up the issue during the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.
The party's manifestos for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh elections focused mainly on farm crisis. The party promises to write off loans and implement a number of measures for the farmers, which include enhancing the minimum support price for crops in line with the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, giving them a social security pension, and helping them financially for the marriage of their daughters.
In Madhya Pradesh, the party has also promised a re-investigation into the killing of six farmers in police firing in Mandsaur in 2017.
The emphasis laid by the manifestos on farmers' issues for the state elections does indicate that, while the Congress and party chief Rahul Gandhi may be harping on the issue of corruption and attacking Modi over the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal and the bank scams, the primary area of focus in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls will be the plight of farmers.
The manifesto committee of the party headed by former Union minister P. Chidambaram has held discussions with farmers' groups to elicit their views on the farm sector-related issues that need to be incorporated in the manifesto for the parliamentary elections.
According to party sources, Gandhi will be one of the main speakers at the farmers' rally scheduled to be held in Delhi on November 30. He is expected to utilise the occasion, which is likely to see an attendance by around 1.5 lakh farmers who will march to the national capital, to set the course for the Congress' attack on Modi and the BJP on the issue of farm crisis. Farmers from all over the country will reach Delhi on November 29 to hold a two-day agitation.
The Congress is expected to take up farmers' issues in a big way in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament. According to sources, the party is likely to demand legislative measures from the government to deal with the agrarian crisis, especially the inability of farmers to sell their crops at MSP rates. Earlier, the party had demanded convening of a special session of the Parliament to discuss farmers' woes. Kisan Khet-Mazdoor Congress chief Nana Patole had written to the prime minister and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, demanding a special session to be convened.
