'Ignoring ryots' demands while waiving off billionaires' loans': Rahul Gandhi attacks BJP over farmer suicides

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi targeted the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, accusing it of being indifferent to farmers' demands. Gandhi charged the system, under the Modi government, has led to a rise in farmer suicides in the country.

 

 

Sharing a report by The New Indian Express on farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Gandhi charged that the government is "watching with indifference". "In just 3 months, 767 farmers in Maharashtra have taken their own lives. Is this just a statistic? No. These are 767 shattered homes. 767 families that will never recover. And the government? Silent,"  the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said in a post on X.

 

 

The Congress leader farmers are sinking in debt, and the cost of seeds, fertilisers and diesel has become expensive. "When they demand loan waivers, they are ignored. But those with billions? Their loans are easily waived by the Modi government," the Congress leader charged.

 

 

Accusing the Centre of duping farmers with false promise of doubling their income, Gandhi charged, "the lives of those who feed the nation are being cut in half". "This system is killing farmers—quietly, but relentlessly, while Modi ji is busy watching his own PR spectacle," he attacked.

 

On Wednesday, Gandhi said the farmers are facing a shortage of fertilisers and the Centre hasn't taken any measures to address the crisis. 

 

Gandhi's comments come after the opposition staged a protest in the Maharashtra Assembly recently over farmer suicides and delay in payments for soybean farmers in the state. Congress charged the state government did not offer compensation in 200 cases, declaring they were ineligible for aid.

India