Listen to people to understand plight: Varun Gandhi

Gandhi also said that legal guarantee of the minimum support price was required to stop exploitation of farmers

Amid the standoff between the Modi government and farmers' outfits over agricultural reforms, outspoken BJP leader Varun Gandhi on Monday appeared to advise his party to listen to the people to understand their plight rather than speaking to them.

Gandhi, a three-term Lok Sabha member who has often taken a divergent stand from the BJP on farmers' issues, said the greatest concerns of farmers were rising cost of production, lack of minimum support price and backbreaking inflation.

“It is important to listen to the people to understand their plight instead of speaking to them,” Gandhi said after meeting farmers of his Lok Sabha constituency Pilibhit and adjacent Lakhimpur.

Gandhi also said that legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) was required to stop exploitation of farmers in wholesale markets.

“Till there is no statutory guarantee of MSP, farmers will continue to be exploited in mandis. Strict action should be taken on this,” he said.

The Pilibhit MP said that farmers in Uttar Pradesh did not receive fair remuneration for their crops and urged the Yogi Adityanath-led state government to give farmers their due.

Gandhi's remarks come at a time when the BJP is gearing up for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh by claiming that the policies of the Modi government and the Yogi government have benefited small farmers to a great extent.

The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are seen as a semi-final to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh last week, Home Minister Amit Shah had urged voters to re-elect Yogi as chief minister to ensure Modi continues as Prime Minister in 2024.