Referencing a range of issues from loan waiver to the failure of the Madhya Pradesh government to bring those responsible for killing five farmers in a recent agitation in Mandsaur to book, the Congress on Thursday brought out its big guns in a concerted effort to build momentum around the farmers’ discontent in the State.
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is also the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, has been sitting on a 72-hour satyagraha since Wednesday afternoon in the Dussehra Maidan in T.T. Nagar here. He was joined later in the evening by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh.
Following the protests by farmers in Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government had announced a loan-waiver for farmers on Sunday and decided to form a committee to work out the debt-relief criteria. The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had also recently announced a loan-waiver of ₹36,359 crore for small and marginal farmers.
“When the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have announced that they will waive farm loans, why has the same party’s government in Madhya Pradesh not doing the same,” Mr. Scindia asked. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had earlier reiterated its stand that farm loan waivers were not an issue in the State and that it was already offering several grants to farmers, including a 10% subsidy on loans. Mr. Scindia, however, referenced his own party’s history, saying farm loans of ₹72,000 crore were waived under the UPA regime purely in the interest of the farming community, even though there were no protests or strikes by farmers.
Under a large tent at the Dussehra Maidan, the number of farmers who attended the Congress Satygraha grew steadily during the day even as incidents surrounding the farmers’ unrest continued to be reported from across the State.
Officers transferred
The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday transferred five police officer from Mandsaur reportedly linked to the killing of five farmers in police firing on June 6. Earlier, on June 8, two day after the firing incident, the State government had transferred Mandsaur’s Collector S.K. Singh and Superintendent of Police O.P. Tripathi.
The officials transferred on Thursday included two Additional Superintendents of Police (ASP), two Sub Divisional Officers of Police (SDOP) and a Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP), a public relations department official said.
In Bhopal, Mr. Scindia sharply criticised the Chief Minister for trying to mollify the families with large compensations and mocked the Chief Minister’s move to go on a fast last Saturday to restore peace to the State.
“A sum of ₹5 crore was spent. The fast — which lasted merely around 24 hours — was broken by drinking water in a silver glass,” he said. “If peace was prevailing, why were prohibitory orders in force in Mandsaur? If peace was not restored, why did the Chief Minister break his fast?” he asked.
The Congress Satyagraha will end on Friday afternoon.