Piyush Goyal blames Congress, Left for rubber farmers' plight

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday blamed the Congress and Left parties for the plight of rubber farmers, saying that the earlier government signed the free trade agreements without proper stakeholder consultations.

During Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, CPI-M leader V Sivadasan raised the issue of synthetic rubber imports at low margins and their impact on rubber farmers due to the ASEAN free trade agreement. He asked whether the government was considering raising import duties.

In response, Goyal said, "With their (CPI-M) support, the Congress government had signed free trade agreements with ASEAN, Japan and Korea without stakeholder consultations and without discussion with farmers and not even thinking about MSME." The minister further charged that Congress and Communist parties have done injustice to rubber farmers.