NEW DELHI: Stung in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka by facing defeat in the recently-held assembly elections in the two states, the BJP has sought to counter the rival Congress on the matter of providing guarantees to people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the farmers are getting “guaranteed” Rs 50,000 every year in different ways under the BJP government at the Centre.Addressing the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress at Pragati Maidan in the national capital on Saturday on the occasion of International Day of Cooperatives, the prime minister said the government bought the farmers’ produce at an increased minimum support price (MSP) and handed out more than Rs 15 lakh crore to the farmers in the last nine years.The PM said, “On an average, the government is spending more than Rs 6.5 lakh crore yearly on agriculture and farmers… The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around Rs 50,000 every year in some way or the other.

This is Modi’s guarantee.”Modi enlisted a comparative cost of fertiliser prices globally.

He said a farmer in India today pays about Rs 270 for a bag of urea whereas the same bag is priced at Rs 720 in Bangladesh, Rs 800 in Pakistan, Rs 2,100 in China and Rs 3,000 in the USA.

“This shows what a guarantee looks like and what massive efforts are needed to change the lives of the farmers,” he said and added that in the last 9 years, more than Rs 10 lakh crore have been spent on just fertiliser subsidies.

The prime minister said today India is working on the goal of a developed and self-reliant nation and reiterated his statement made from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day that everyone's effort is necessary to achieve each of the goals.“Today, if we are the biggest producer of milk in the world, it can be attributed to dairy cooperatives.

If India is one of the biggest producers of sugar, it can also be attributed to cooperatives… When it came to bigger goals for a developed India, we decided to give a bigger strength to cooperatives,” he said.He reminded that for the first time, a separate ministry for cooperatives has been created and a provision has been made for a separate budget.He said the BJP government has been very serious since the beginning to ensure that the farmers get a fair price for their crops.

In the last nine years, by increasing the MSP, more than Rs 15 lakh crore has been given to the farmers by purchasing on MSP, he informed.The PM said if calculated, the central government is spending more than Rs 6.5 lakh crore on agriculture and farmers every year.

This means that every year the government is providing an average of Rs 50,000 to every farmer in some form or the other.

That is, in the BJP government, farmers are guaranteed to get Rs 50,000 every year in different ways.

“This is Modi's guarantee,” he said.Not only this, Modi said, the fair and remunerative price for sugarcane farmers has now been made a record Rs 315 per quintal.

In continuation of the farmer-friendly approach, another major decision was taken a few days back.

The central government has announced a package of Rs 3,70,000 crore for the farmers, he added.PM Modi spoke the word “guarantee” several times in his speech.

It was aimed at the Congress which promised 10 guarantees in the Himachal Pradesh assembly election held last year and five guarantees in the Karnataka assembly election held in May.The BJP lost both the elections.

Buoyed by its success in the two states, the Congress is likely to announce guarantees again in the assembly elections to be held in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram later this year.

Wary of this, the BJP seems to have started countering the Congress.The 10 guarantees of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh included revival of old pension scheme (OPS), employment opportunities for 5 lakh youth, women to receive a compensation of Rs 1,500 per month, 300 units of free electricity, a start-up fund of Rs 680 crore for the youth, opening four English medium schools in every legislative assembly region, free medical treatment in every village through mobile clinics and purchasing of cow dung cakes at Rs 2 per kg.Similarly, the Congress promised five guarantees in Karnataka.

They included Gruha Jyoti (200 units of free power to all households), Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2000 monthly assistance to women head of every family), Anna Bhagya (10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household), Yuva Nidhi (Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders in the age group of 18-25 for two years) and Uchita Prayana (free travel for women in public transport buses).The BJP was ruling in both the states but was routed by the Congress in the recent elections.