BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Thursday, June 11, 2026, invoked the hashtag #12YearsOfKisanSamriddhi to assert that the Modi government has done more for Indian farmers in the past twelve years than any previous government managed in 70 years — positioning agricultural welfare as the administration's defining priority.

Context

Thakur posted in Hindi, writing: 'अन्नदाता के हितों की रक्षा, मोदी सरकार की प्राथमिकता' ('Protecting the interests of the annadata — the food-giver — is the Modi government's priority'). He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with taking every necessary step to ensure the economic empowerment and well-being of farmers, a claim he framed as historically unmatched. The post was accompanied by a video and is part of coordinated BJP messaging marking twelve years of the party-led central government's farm outreach.

Policy Backdrop

The central government's flagship farmer-support architecture rests heavily on the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), launched in February 2019, which provides an annual direct benefit transfer of ₹6,000 to eligible landholding farm families. The scheme was designed to bypass state-level intermediaries and credit money directly to small and marginal holders. Alongside PM-KISAN, the government expanded crop insurance coverage under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and invested in digital market linkages through platforms such as eNAM to give farmers broader price discovery. In 2016, the government also stated a target to double farmers' income by 2022, a benchmark that has since drawn both support and scrutiny in parliamentary debate.

Stakeholders and Impact

India's agricultural sector supports the livelihoods of a substantial share of the country's population, making farm-welfare messaging politically significant ahead of any electoral cycle. Small and marginal farmers — who hold less than two hectares — are the primary beneficiaries of direct-transfer schemes and form the core constituency that BJP outreach under the annadata framing seeks to address. Opposition parties have periodically questioned whether income-support transfers translate into structural improvements in farm profitability, input costs, or rural debt relief, keeping the policy debate live in Parliament.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to allocations for agriculture and rural development in the forthcoming Union Budget, where any revision to PM-KISAN transfer amounts or expansion of beneficiary coverage would test the government's stated commitment. Parliamentary discussions on reviewing existing schemes and introducing new instruments for farmer income security are also expected to intensify. Thakur's post signals that the BJP intends to keep the twelve-year farm-welfare record as a central plank of its political communication in the period ahead.