Listen to people to understand plight: Varun Gandhi

Lucknow : Amid the standoff between the Modi government and farmers’ outfits over agricultural reforms, outspoken BJP leader Varun Gandhi on Monday appeared to advise his party to listen to the people and should understand their plight rather than speaking to them.

Taking to twitter Varun Gandhi tweeted, “On the border of Lakhimpur and Pilibhit, issues like rising cost of crops, not getting fair price or MSP, back-breaking inflation in the country were discussed among the farmers.”

लखीमपुर और पीलीभीत की सीमा पर किसानों के बीच फसलों की बढ़ती लागत, उचित कीमत या एमएसपी ना मिलना, देश में कमर-तोड़ महंगाई जैसे मुद्दों पर चर्चा हुई।

जनता की पीड़ा को समझने के लिए बोलने से ज़्यादा उनकी बात सुनना ज़रूरी है। pic.twitter.com/QEj66CwyQD

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) November 1, 2021

Gandhi, a three-term Lok Sabha member who has often taken a divergent stand from the BJP on farmers’ issues, said the greatest concerns of farmers were rising cost of production, lack of minimum support price and backbreaking inflation.

“It is important to listen to the people to understand their plight instead of speaking to them,” Gandhi said after meeting farmers of his Lok Sabha constituency Pilibhit and adjacent Lakhimpur.

Gandhi also said that legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) was required to stop exploitation of farmers in wholesale markets.

“Till there is no statutory guarantee of MSP, farmers will continue to be exploited in mandis. Strict action should be taken on this,” he said.

Slamming the centre he said that farmers are so upset and have been facing these issues since so long that they are burning up their own crops. This is a big shame for the government. A common man is upset with inflation, fertilizers are unavailable, farmers are victim of natural calamities. Nexus is present throughout the country.

The Pilibhit MP said that farmers in Uttar Pradesh did not receive fair remuneration for their crops and urged the Yogi Adityanath-led state government to give farmers their due.

Gandhi’s remarks come at a time when the BJP is gearing up for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh by claiming that the policies of the Modi government and the Yogi government have benefited small farmers to a great extent.