–Ganesh Puthur
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Twitter called off the bluff of the General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist). Sitaram Yechury had tweeted “Varanasi: PM Modi says we “are spreading lies, lies & more lies” and Agrilaws “don’t remove earlier system”. Then why does he stubbornly refuse to enact a law “Right to sell at MSP” that we proposed way back in 2017? Repeal Agri laws”.
Yechury, just like other top brass from the opposition wanted to be seen as a crusader for farmers to reap benefit from the ongoing ‘farmers’ protests’ near Delhi. But instead of adding it to his benefit, his tweet became counterproductive when Tripura CM responded to it.
Biplab Kumar Deb’s reply to Yechury’s tweet “For more than 25 years, Tripura had a Communist government and the first time MSP (Minimum Support Price) got implemented was in the year 2019 under the Modi Ji led BJP Govt. Once again you are just spreading lies, lies and more lies”, has now become an internet sensation.
Farmers of Tripura were forced to sell their products at a cheaper price before 2018. In 2018, the state government had procured paddy at an MSP of 17.50 Rs/KG. In the first two phases, 10,000 MT and 16,870 MT were procured. In 2019, the Food Corporation of India had directly come to procure 50,000MT of paddy at a rate of 18.50Rs/KG. It is quite ironic to watch CPIM criticising BJP for being anti-Farmer when their state government did nothing when it came to an important issue like the MSP.
