The Congress will "expose failures" of the BJP on several issues, including that of farmers and women, internal security, price rise and unemployment, in the run-up to the assembly polls in five states beginning February 10, party sources said on Tuesday.
They said the party seeks to highlight how the BJP has failed to double farmers' income and how it has burdened them with additional taxes on farm inputs and given the agrarian community pain due to the farm laws.
Sources said the Congress will release the BJP's report card on farmers' issues simultaneously in different centres in the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur. Titled "Aamdani na hui doguni, Dard sau guna" (Incomes have not doubled but pain has increased 100 times), Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala along with Punjab unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu will jointly release the report card on Wednesday in Chandigarh.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, along with Supriya Shrinate, will release it in Lucknow, while party leaders Mohan Prakash and Gourav Vallabh will do so in Dehradun. Party MPs Gurjit Singh Aujla and Jasbir Singh Dimpa will release it in Amritsar and Punjab minister Pargat Singh Rajeev Shukla in Jalandhar.
In Varanasi too, party leaders Sachin Pilot and Ajay Rai will release the report card and party leaders Yashpal Arya and Szarita Laitphlang will do so in Uttarakhand's Haldwani. The Congress will launch similar report cards are inflation, unemployment, economic downturn, internal security, status of women and the youth, and security of women, among other issues.
Surjewala said the Congress will "expose" the BJP's "anti-farmer" mindset and will highlight how the government has failed to implement its promises, including doubling of farmers incomes by 2022. He said the BJP has only provided lip service and not done anything for farmers, while it has inflicted a lot of pain on them during the past over a year when farmers were fighting on the streets against the three farm laws. These laws were subsequently repealed.
Surjewala said while the government is paying Rs 6,000 per year to every farming households, it is "looting them" by taking out money from their pockets by way of additional taxes on all farm inputs. The Congress leader said the government has not even done anything to address the farmers' concerns on the minimum support price (MSP).
While MSP on paddy had been increased by 126 per cent during the UPA regime, it has increased only by 48 per cent during the NDA government. Similarly, the MSP on wheat which had increased by 87 per cent during the UPA, has been increased by only 44 per cent during the NDA regime. Private companies, including insurance firms, have been benefitting at the cost of farmers under the BJP government, he alleged.
With inputs from PTI.
