Facing protests, Sunil Jakhar lists PM Modi’s farm initiatives

Chandigarh, May 15

State BJP president Sunil Jakhar today highlighted a slew of farmer-friendly measures initiated by the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre, ‘debunking the false narrative’ being scripted by the AAP and Congress in the state to divert attention from their failures.

Addressing a press conference here today, Jakhar cited a huge upsurge in payout to farmers in the state by the Centre, saying that the increase in payments were in line with BJP’s commitment to double the farmer’s income.

“In 2014, farmers were paid Rs 32,211 crore for both paddy and wheat crops. After a decade of BJP rule, farmers received Rs 70,385 crore for crops, which is more than double since the last decade.” The budget for agriculture in 10 years of the Modi government has been hiked from Rs 21,900 crore to Rs 1.25 lakh crore in 2024, he said.

“Earlier, there were 23 lakh Kisan Samman Nidhi cards for farmers. But, today under the AAP rule, just 8.5 lakh farmers have these cards and 15 lakh farmers are bereft of the benefits of the scheme,” Jakhar alleged. “Farmers have been deprived of the Centre’s scheme by the laxity of the state government. Rs 900 crore could not be added to the farmers income under the Centre’s scheme because the AAP government, which was duty bound to get the KYC done, failed. Why are farmer organisations not protesting?” he asked.