Modi's farmers rally an epic flop, his speech full of white lies: Congress
New Delhi, July 11: Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's farmers' rally in Punjab's Malout was an "epic flop", the Congress on Wednesday termed him the "emperor of lies and king of rhetoric" as his speech was "laced with white lies".
The party also said the stark reality is that Modi government has betrayed the farmers in last four years on the solemn promise of Cost+50 per cent profit to them, and it will raise the issue of farmers in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said: "It is time Modiji faced the stark reality... the poor response of the farmers to his speech today (Wednesday) is a clear indicator of Modi losing grip on the narrative."
"Modi's first farmer rally in Punjab after announcing 'jumla' of MSP was an epic flop. There were no farmers in the rally, neither the rented crowd, nor their own BJP workers were impressed by his speech laced with white lies," she said.
Terming Modi the "emperor of lies and king of rhetoric," whose "lies are becoming popular across the world", she said: "Modi in his speech came up with a whole set of lies and jumlas to mislead the farmers and the nation. He came up with cost price which varies with the Commission of Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) 2018-19 report."
"If you take into account the CACP data, the promise of MSP+50 per cent is far from the truth. With the increase in cost factoring in the current inflation the MSP announced is C2+15 per cent for paddy, C2+20 per cent for Ragi and C2+19 per cent on Moong etc.
"This is confirmed by agriculture scientist M. S. Swaminathan himself, who has drafted the Swaminathan report on the basis of which Modi made huge promises to the farmers of Cost+50 per cent profit," she added.
Countering Modi's claims, the Congress said he claimed that soil health cards were issued by his government, though the programme was started in 2009 under UPA and 5 crore cards were distributed by 2012 itself.
It also said that while Modi said that 9,000 soil examination centres have been approved by his government against 40-50 soil testing labs by the Congress, it said that the UPA established 1,141 soil testing labs.
Also noting neem-coated urea was an initiative of UPA in 2011, it asked him why he did not mention the PM's crop insurance scheme.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
