The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee on Wednesday, 8 July launched a sharp two-pronged attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party governments at the Centre and state, accusing them of betraying farmers on minimum support prices and exposing citizens to avoidable monsoon damage through inadequate pre-monsoon preparedness. The press conference in Ahmedabad was addressed by senior Congress leaders who demanded both a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and a high-level inquiry into pre-monsoon works.

Congress on Farmers and MSP

Congress General Secretary and Gujarat in-charge Mukul Wasnik alleged that the Union government had repeatedly made promises to farmers during elections only to abandon them once votes were counted. 'The Modi government has been continuously misleading farmers. During elections, farmers are given big promises regarding the Minimum Support Price (MSP), but these are forgotten once the elections are over,' Wasnik said.

Wasnik pointed to what he called a glaring contradiction: the Centre had conferred the Bharat Ratna on agricultural scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan, yet had not implemented the Swaminathan Commission's core recommendation — that farmers receive prices covering the full cost of production plus a reasonable profit margin. He said Congress had formally urged the Centre to implement the Commission's recommendations with a statutory legal guarantee.

He also listed a range of challenges confronting Gujarat's farming community, including the absence of remunerative prices, rising input costs for fertilisers, seeds and pesticides, inadequate crop insurance payouts, crop losses, and unresolved irrigation and electricity grievances.

Monsoon Damage and Administrative Failure

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Chavda turned the focus to the aftermath of the first heavy monsoon spell in the state, alleging that the BJP government's claims of development and pre-monsoon preparedness had been contradicted by conditions on the ground. 'The BJP government's claims of development, pre-monsoon preparedness and corruption-free governance have all been exposed by the first heavy rains,' Chavda said.

Chavda cited Surat specifically, where two days of heavy rainfall had reportedly inundated residential areas, disrupted daily life, caused financial losses to traders, and damaged vehicles. He alleged that nine people had died in separate rain-related incidents across the state, and attributed the fatalities to administrative failure and inadequate planning.

Congress Demands

The party put forward a set of formal demands, including the continuation of relief and rescue operations across all affected areas, compensation and special assistance for families of those who died, and a survey of losses suffered by affected households, traders, and small industries.

Congress also called for a time-bound, high-level inquiry into expenditure, tenders, and the execution of pre-monsoon works, along with punitive action against officials, contractors, and agencies found responsible for negligence or irregularities.

Broader Context

The MSP debate has remained a fault line in Indian politics since the repeal of the three farm laws in 2021. Farmer groups and opposition parties have consistently demanded a statutory MSP guarantee, a demand the Centre has so far declined to legislate. Gujarat, a politically significant state for the BJP, is now also navigating its annual monsoon stress test — one that critics argue exposes the gap between infrastructure spending claims and on-ground outcomes. This is not the first time opposition parties have raised pre-monsoon preparedness concerns in the state after early-season flooding.

With the monsoon season just beginning and the farm distress debate intensifying ahead of future electoral cycles, the Congress's dual offensive is likely to keep pressure on both the state and Central administrations in the weeks ahead.