As farmers protest, PM showing off Central plans, says Thorat

Maharashtra Congress chief and state minister Balasaheb Thorat on Monday said thousands of farmers have been protesting in biting cold in Delhi for the past several days against the Centre's new farm laws but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy in showing the importance of the schemes of his government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released Rs 18,000 crore under the PM-KISAN scheme to 9 crore farmers at an event.

"Farmers have been demanding that the new farm laws be scrapped. But PM Modi is busy showing the importance of his schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sanman Yojana. Moreover, Rs 2,000 given is like peanuts to farmers when industrialist friends are getting huge benefits," Thorat alleged.

"The production cost was Rs 30,000 per hectare which has risen significantly. So even if you give Rs 6,000, there is still a difference of Rs 24,000," he claimed.

The Centre borrows Rs 54,000 crore annually for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sanman Yojana, and the farmer gets Rs 6,000 a year, which is Rs 17 a day, but this same government writes off loans of Rs 7,94,354 crore of industrialists between 2015 and 2019, the Congress leader alleged.

The Modi government has also increased prices of fuel, cooking gas etc, all of which have hit the common man immensely, Thorat said.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Pune, Thorat's party and cabinet colleague Vijay Wadettiwar said the BJP-led government at the Centre had "woken up from its slumber" and transferred money into the accounts of farmers.

He said the BJP must answer questions being raised about these new laws by the distressed farmers of the country.