The Centre was reported to be preparing measures to raise rural incomes, possibly before the end of Parliament’s winter session, after the BJP lost Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in state elections where farm distress was a major issue. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram questioned how such a plan would be paid for.

What the government was considering

According to party sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks on a wide farm relief package with Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, party president Amit Shah and Radha Mohan Singh, who holds agriculture. The proposals were said to draw on feedback from BJP leaders, MPs and other stakeholders. The Agriculture Ministry had reportedly prepared a road map and presented the Prime Minister with short- and long-term solutions to the causes of rural distress. Shah held a separate meeting with the agriculture minister late on Thursday; nothing was officially said about what they discussed.

The Congress had moved to waive farm loans soon after forming governments in the three states, and Rahul Gandhi had said the opposition would keep up pressure on the Prime Minister until a nationwide waiver was announced. Sources said the Centre’s plan would go further than loan waivers. On Thursday, Modi said the Congress waivers were aimed only at winning elections, a remark seen as a hint that the BJP had a different approach in mind.

Chidambaram’s criticism

Chidambaram said the government intended to pay farmers the gap between the minimum support price and the market price, an approach he said the BJP had already tried in Madhya Pradesh without easing farmers’ debts. “The ‘pay the difference’ plan will help only the farmer who has a marketable surplus,” he said, adding that indebted farmers without a surplus would be left out.

He also said revenue collected over eight months was under 50 per cent of the target and that the fiscal deficit had reached 115 per cent of the estimate, and asked where the money for a new scheme would come from.

What happened next

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election the BJP won 303 of 543 seats and the Congress 52.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party · Election news

Originally published on 28 December 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us