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Speaking for the first time in the Lok Sabha after his party’s resounding defeat in the general election, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of farmers’ suicide and said the government seems to consider farmers “inferior” to businessmen who have been given concessions and loan waivers worth lakhs of crores.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Rajnath Singh countered blaming the long years of Congress’ rule for the plight of farmers. He asserted that no Prime Minister has worked as hard as Narendra Modi for farmers’ welfare.
Taking up the issue in the Zero Hour, Gandhi in his brief speech mostly focused on Kerala and made specific mention of problems faced by farmers in Wayanad, from where he has been elected to the Lok Sabha.
No relief has been given to farmers by the government, he said, claiming that businessmen have been granted concessions of ₹3 lakh crore and loan waivers of ₹5 lakh crore.
He asked why the government thinks farmers are ‘inferior’ to rich businessmen.
Rajnath hits back
In his reply, the Defence Minister said the government’s move to give ₹6,000 to farmers will lead to an increase in their income by 20-25 per cent and claimed that more farmers committed suicide before the BJP-led dispensation came to power.
“It is not that the condition of farmers deteriorated in the last one, two or four years. Those who have ruled the country for a long time are responsible. The amount of increase in minimum support price (MSP) that our Prime Minister has effected has not been done by anybody in independent India’s history,” he said.
Gandhi said farmers are suffering throughout the country and are in a terrible condition in Kerala, and added that one farmer ended his life in Wayanad.
Farmers have been facing threats of immediate eviction from their properties, he said, as banks from which they had taken loans have begun recovery process.
Eighteen farmers in Kerala have committed suicide due to this, he added.
Modi had made a lot of promises to farmers and the government should fulfil them, Gandhi said.
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