Khurshid defends Verma's 'happy with inflation' comment, says UPA committed to farmers' cause

New Delhi -  Asserting that the UPA Government is committed to the welfare of the farming community, Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said an  attempt is being made to create a balance in the whole system so that both the consumers and the farmers have some relief following the rise in prices.

"Please try to understand he (Beni Prasad Verma) is the Minister of Infrastructure. The idea is that if you want to give true value to the farmers, the prices will eventually increase in the  market.  If you lower the prices in the market, then what will the farmers get. So, where should be the balance? If there is pressure, then there should be some relief also," he said, while  reacting to Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma's comment that farmers gain because of price rise.

Khurshid further said the Indian economists are time and again making attempts on how to curtail the price rise in the market.

"If you try to think (Beni Prasad Verma's views) in some words, then you will get it wrong. So, try to understand the whole system and don't take it out of context. We are fulfilling our  responsibilities. It is the same with regard to the consumer as well as the farmers," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) earlier today criticized the UPA Government for being insensitive to the concerns if the common man of the country.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the rampant inflation is not visible to leaders of the Congress Party.
 
"They (Congress leaders) are seeing the increasing inflation also an achievement, and they are saying that the farmers are benefitting from it. This tells us about the mindset of the  Congress. Nothing can be worse than a Union Cabinet Minister's comment that farmers benefit because of inflation," said Hussain.

"Today, the farmers are getting seeds, fertilizers and electricity at expensive rates. The agricultural input prices are going up. I think the Congress, which talks about the common man, has  gone too far from them," he added.

CPI leader Atul Kumar Anjaan said the farmers are at the moment not even getting the cost, which they have invested in agriculture.
 
"I think the Union Minister's version is a laughable one. I don't consider what he says. In fact, the prices of the agriculture input have gone up from 13 to 27 percent during the last one year.

The input cost has gone too high and they are not getting the cost, which they have invested in agriculture. So, I don't agree with what the minister says," he said.
 
Anjaan said the middleman and traders get the money and enjoy the fruits of the government policy and decisions.
 
"Unfortunately, the Prime Minister many a times repeatedly said the price rise will be controlled, but unfortunately the ministers are speaking in a different term," he said.

Verma had earlier on Sunday said that he was happy with the rising prices of these food items, as it will benefit farmers.
 
"Dal, atta, vegetables have all become expensive. The more the prices rise the better it is. I am very happy with inflation," he told mediapersons on the sidelines of a function in Barabanki,  near Lucknow.