'Rahul Gandhi doesn't know difference between paddy and wheat'

Rahul Gandhi

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Sunday responded to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's allegation of agrarian distress in BJP-ruled states by commenting that the latter did not know the difference between paddy and wheat. The Union Minister of State for Agriculture claimed that farmers were getting the right price for their produce and this had strengthened the agricultural sector.

"I am a farmer, an agriculturists' leader and their representative in the Central government. So I know the condition of the agricultural sector better," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. "It would not be appropriate to comment on the statements of a person who doesn't know the difference between wheat and paddy crops, who doesn't know the difference between a lamb and the offspring of a goat," the minister said when queried on Gandhi's remarks. Shekhawat further stated that the government was trying to increase the export of soyabean and other agricultural products seeing an opportunity in the ongoing US-China trade tussle.

"In view of the ongoing China-US trade war, there is a huge opportunity for agrarian economies like India. So our government is making efforts to promote the export of agriculture based products," he said. Shekhawat said previous Congress governments betrayed farmers as well as those in the food processing industry. This, he claimed, had led to an increased dependence on import of edible oil. "To reduce this dependence, our government increased the import duty on edible oil four times. We also increased the minimum support price of oilseeds so that farmers get the right price of their produce and more farmers get attracted to such crops."

Speaking on the October 2 police action on protesting farmers marching towards Delhi, the minister said that the government would fulfil their legitimate demands but added that farmers were being "instigated" to reap political benefit in view of the upcoming Assembly polls. Farmers marching towards Delhi as part of the Bharatiya Kisan Union's (BKU) protest call over demands ranging from farm loan waiver to reduction in fuel prices were stopped at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on October 2 with police using water cannons to disperse them.

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