'Farmers Exploited in Mandis': BJP MP Varun Gandhi Demands Guarantee of MSP

Gandhi said that the "crippling corruption" at procurement centres forces farmers to sell their grain to middle men.

File image of BJP leader Varun Gandhi.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Varun Gandhi)

Taking a jibe against the Uttar Pradesh government over agricultural issues, BJP MP Varun Gandhi alleged that the "crippling corruption" at government procurement centres forces the farmers to sell their produce to middle men.

“At every procurement centre in the state there is crippling corruption which is completely out in the open. Farmers’ grains are forcibly rejected after which they sell their produce out of desperation to middlemen. The administration takes a cut,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The BJP leader, who has spoken about farmers' issues at multiple occasions in the past, further asserted that this was a matter of "big shame" for the state government.

Speaking at a mandi in Bareilly, Gandhi said, "Till there is no statutory guarantee of MSP, farmers will continue to be exploited in such mandis. Strict action should be taken on this."

A legal guarantee for the minimum support price to be set be the government is one of the key demands of the farmers who have been protesting against the Centre's contentious agricultural laws introduced in 2020.

Earlier in October, the names of Varun Gandhi and his mother Maneka Gandhi were dropped from the fresh list of the BJP national executive body – shortly after the former had made a comment in the support of the protesting farmers.

Gandhi, condemning the deaths of four farmers who had died after allegedly being run over by the car of a minister's son in Lakhimpur, had demanded justice for the deceased in a tweet.

(With inputs from PTI)