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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Pulses hold centre stage in inflation debate
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Pulses hold centre stage in inflation debate

Rahul Gandhi targets govt over spiralling prices of pulses and coins a new slogan Arhar Modi, Arhar Modia parody of Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi

The third advance estimate of production of foodgrains of 2015-16 pegged India’s pulses production at 20.75 tonnes in 2016-17, 21.6% higher than the estimated 17.06 tonnes produced in 2015-16. Photo: MintPremium
The third advance estimate of production of foodgrains of 2015-16 pegged India’s pulses production at 20.75 tonnes in 2016-17, 21.6% higher than the estimated 17.06 tonnes produced in 2015-16. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Taking a cue from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s assembly election campaign last year, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday came up with a new slogan, Arhar Modi, Arhar Modi, after arhar daal, or pigeon pea.

Following two days of discussion in Parliament, daal or pulses are back at the centre stage of the debate on rising prices of food. Gandhi was not only taking a jibe at the spiralling daal prices but also on an earlier slogan coined around Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the run up to the 2014 elections had widely used the slogan Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi, which loosely translated to: “Everyone is Modi, in every house there is Modi."

Now Modi is linked to the spike in prices of daal, a staple food item in most parts of the country.

Monthly consumption of pulses in 2011-12 was 0.90kg in urban areas and 0.78kg in rural areas. Annually, the consumption stood at 10.96kg and 9.53kg in the urban and rural areas, respectively, according to the Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2014.

The third advance estimate of production of foodgrains of 2015-16 pegged India’s pulses production at 20.75 tonnes in 2016-17, 21.6% higher than the estimated 17.06 tonnes produced in 2015-16.

Arhar is one of the commonly used variants of daal. The annual demand of arhar is estimated to be around 3 million tonnes, according to S.P. Goenka, a trader and an official with the India Pulses and Grains Association. Less production of arhar is often attributed to low yield, prolonged period of maturity (at least six months) and the added risk of being a rain-fed crop.

Politically, daal has often been used as a symbolic reference of access to basic services, particularly food. Kumar’s campaign extensively used the slogan Arhar Modi to highlight the issue of inflation and linking it with how access to basic services was getting increasingly difficult for the poor.

Gandhi’s jibe on Thursday was accompanied with an attack on increasing prices as well as ‘theft’ of daal. “Today a farmer sells pulses for 50 a kg and when he goes to the market he sees it is being sold for 180 a kg. The Prime Minister went to Uttar Pradesh and said he should not be elected as a Prime Minister but as a pradhan sewak (prime worker) and now the theft of pulses is happening right under his watch," Gandhi said in his speech in the Lok Sabha.

Soon after Gandhi’s speech, microblogging site Twitter, was abuzz with discussions over the slogan and hashtag #ArharModi was a top trending topic. In the past two years some of the other slogans which Gandhi used against the government includes “fair and lovely yojana" for its black money scheme, “Make in India’s Babbar Sher" referring to the lion icon of the programme and suit boot ki sarkar while attacking the government for being pro-corporate.

“Apart from corruption, one of the main reasons which led to the debacle of Congress party was inflation and continuous price rise of essential food items. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) has maintained that apart from a few items, the inflation is overall under control. With slogans like these, the Congress party is disrespecting the post of the Prime Minister and it is in bad taste. Parliament is not the forum for political sloganeering," a senior BJP leader said.

Political analysts say that with the government completing two years in power and a crucial set of assembly polls due next year, it is experiencing the first signs of anti-incumbency and needs to take urgent steps to rein in public anger against inflation.

“The government needs to worry about this debate gaining momentum and see it as an anti-incumbency signal. The 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign was an over-sold campaign. Delivering on its promises is becoming difficult for the government. It should think of ways to offset the growing anti-incumbency sentiment," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.

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Published: 29 Jul 2016, 09:11 PM IST
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