Mumbai: The Congress on Wednesday resorted to agitation against the 40 per cent export duty on onion and condemned the ₹2,410 assured price saying that it doesn’t even compensate for the production cost. The NCP, meanwhile, demanded ₹4,000 as assured price for Onion.
“Increase in export duty on onion has brought down the prices of farm produce and now the government says it purchase only 2 lakh tonnes of onion at the rate of ₹2,410 through NAFED. Can this amount even cover the cost of production of onions?,” Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole asked as he addressed farmers at Chakan in Pune district where the party had organized protests against the increase in onion export duty.
“Farmers are dumping their produce on the streets as prices have crashed. The government doesn’t care about the farmers even when they are in severe distress, such an insensitive government is sitting in power,” Patole added while condemning the government for the sorry plight of farmers.
“We shall fight to give justice to the farmers of the state,” he said and added, “Our fight will continue until the 40 percent export duty on onion is scrapped.”
Anger and resentment among farmers
He further said that due to the increase in onion export duty by the Modi government, there is a lot of anger among the farmers. Agriculture markets and auctions yards are shut in onion-producing areas. An outcry has started everywhere against the Modi government. In the last one and a half months, 18 lakh tonnes of onion has come to APMC markets, Nafed is going to buy only 2 lakh tonnes of onion, then what should the farmers do with the remaining onion? The government should answer this.
“Narendra Modi had promised in Yavatmal in 2014 that if BJP comes to power, he will implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee and will first sign on the farm loan waiver. As soon as he came to power, Modi changed his word, told the Supreme Court that he could not implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee and cheated farmers by saying that the farm loan waiver was an election gimmick.
Modi government's anti-farmer approach
The Modi government is anti-farmer, they wanted to enslave the farmers by bringing three black laws. 700 farmers were martyred in the agitation at Delhi border but Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no time to meet the farmers. Farmers were called agitators, Naxalite and Khalistanis. It is the policy of the Modi government not to allow the price of agricultural products to rise. There is a conspiracy to disrupt the farmer and hand over the agriculture sector to his industrialists friends, said Nana Patole. He urged the farmers to unite against the BJP government which does not understand their feelings. He said that the anti-farmer, tyrannical government, must be sent home and the Congress party will give justice to the farmers.” Patole said.
Meanwhile, the NCP has said that instead of ₹2,410 the government should have given ₹4,000 as the assured price for Onion in this hour of distress for the farmers.
