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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Bengaluru (PTI): A five-year-old boy was injured after he was allegedly kicked by a neighbour while playing near his uncle’s house, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred in Thyagarajanagar on December 14.

CCTV footage of the incident showed the child, identified as Neev Jain, playing badminton with other children outside the house when a man approached him from behind and suddenly kicked him.

The impact caused the boy to fall to the ground. The man was then seen casually walking away from the spot without offering any help or showing concern, the footage showed.

Police said a preliminary inquiry revealed that the accused is suffering from a mental health disorder and is undergoing treatment.

According to police, in her complaint, the boy’s mother, Deepika Jain, stated that she had visited her elder brother Manoj’s house on December 14.

At around 1.10 pm, while her son was playing with other children near the house, a resident of the neighbouring house, identified as Ranjan, allegedly kicked the child without provocation.

As a result, the boy fell and sustained bleeding above the eyebrow and abrasions on his hands and legs, she said.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered under Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The accused was arrested and later released, a senior police officer said.