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Updated: Feb 24, 2019 14:08 IST

Minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Rs 75,000 crore cash transfer scheme for farmers, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati slammed it as “atrocious, arrogant” and an “insult” to farmers.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme is meant to benefit 12 crore farmers transferring Rs 6,000 to farmers in three instalments annually.

Mayawati said the annual payout of Rs 6000 to the farmers translated to Rs 500 per month and Rs 17 per day. This she said was a “pittance” and accused the BJP of merely doing lip service to the farmers.

“Rs 500 a month to poor farmers under is an insult. Farmers believe in their labour and want remunerative price of their produce but BJP mentality to give them little monetary help is atrocious and arrogant. BJP has failed to fulfil their promise,” Mayawati tweeted.

PM Modi launched the PM-KISAN scheme in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur on Sunday and slammed the opposition for not doing enough for farmers. He said they were all the same and were scared when the BJP announced the scheme during the interim budget. “They turned pale when we announced the PM-Kisan scheme in Parliament,” he said.

Also Read | Congress’s P Chidambaram calls govt’s farmer income scheme a ‘bribe for votes’

Mayawati’s BSP has entered into an electoral alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP will contest 38 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh while the SP would field candidates in 37 constituencies.

Akhilesh Yadav had termed the alliance with BSP as a political revolution and said it was necessary to bring down the soaring arrogance of the BJP.

On Sunday, Mayawati described the Modi governmen’t Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme as “half baked” comparing it with Modi government’s previous decisions like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST). She said the scheme was an election year stunt which the people have seen through.

The BSP chief went on to say the PM-KISAN scheme was similar to previous decisions of the BJP that reflected their “narrow-minded approach” and asked farmers to be cautious.