Mumbai: Yet another politician has abused farmers in Maharashtra by making insensitive remarks when ‘tur dal’ (pulses) growers in the state are having a tough time selling their bumper crop at a reasonable price.
BJP President in Maharashtra, Raosaheb Danve, has angered not only opposition parties Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but also BJP’s coalition partner Shiv Sena with his anti-farmer comments. While addressing party workers at the inauguration of the office of his colleague and minister of water supply and sanitation, Babanrao Lonikar, in Jalna, Danve said, “The government has recently cleared a proposal to purchase one lakh tonne tur. [Expletive] don’t stop crying even after that.”
At a press conference here, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan condemned the ‘arrogant’ statements by Danve and said the BJP was intoxicated by power and had become insensitive to the difficulties faced by farmers. “By abusing farmers, he has rubbed salt into farmers’ wounds,” said Chavan. Congress Leader of Opposition in state assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil demanded that the BJP clarify Danve’s statement.
The Shiv Sena in an editorial in its party organ Saamna said, “It is the government’s responsibility to make sure farmers live. But the State has become a cemetery for farmers.” Sena hit the streets in many parts of the state to protest Danve’s statement. In Osmanabad, protesters burnt the BJP state president in effigy while protests were also reported in Paithan, Parbhani and Satara.
Tur dal production in the state rose from 447,000 tonnes in 2015-16 to over 2 million tonnes in 2016-17. When there was a shortage in the past, the government imported these pulses and it appears they are unable to handle this huge crop, having purchased only 400,000 tonnes at the minimum support price of Rs5,050 (Dh287) per quintal with nearly 1.6 million tonnes remaining unpurchased. The Centre has refused to extend the purchase period beyond May 31. If there is no immediate procurement, farmers would be forced to sell at much lower prices to private buyers, which will leave them in penury.
With the crisis finding no solution, former Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chavan urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to recall two Maharashtra ministers for Agriculture and Food and Public Distribution Minister who are visiting Australia, Singapore and New Zealand as part of a legislative delegation. He said, “It is appalling that these two ministers directly responsible for handing the current farm crisis have gone on a 15-day junket.”
