Modi govt insensitive to farmers; PM, FM must apologise: Cong

The Congress on Friday accused the government of being "insensitive" and "inhumane" towards farmers and demanded that the prime minister and the finance minister apologise for neglecting them in the COVID-19 economic package.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore package for offsetting the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a "jumla package" and reflects the "voodoo economics" being followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He said the government has not put a single penny in the pocket of farmers or farm labourers through the package and claimed that farmers have lost over Rs 50,000 crore this Rabi season.

"One thing is absolutely clear that the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore economic package has proved to be a jumla package. It reflects the 'voodoo' economics being followed by the prime minister and the finance minister," Surjewala said at a press conference through video-conferencing.

The Congress leader noted that the package, which is now being declared in instalments by the finance minister, "has proved to be only 13 zeros".

He said the PM and FM are trying to befool farmers and this is not in national interest. They should apologise to them for betraying them by not giving even a single penny in their pocket, he noted.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram said in their estimate, the fiscal stimulus part of the second tranche of announcements was Rs 5,000 crore with which analysts agree.

"In today's tranche it is close to zero. Even the FM declined to answer how many of the amounts mentioned today were already part of the Expenditure Budget and how many are additional sums of money."
His colleague and former union minister Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Madam Finance Minister, one simple question. What is the ADDITIONAL cash you are putting into the system over the next 6 months? The announcements you made today are mostly contained in your budget presented on Feb 1. Another case of repackaging and remarketing."