BJP govt rubbing salt into wounds of distressed farmers and unemployed youth, says Maharashtra Cong chief Nana Patole
Banana and cotton cultivators are distressed and the Maharashtra government must provide immediate relief, state Congress chief Nana Patole said on Saturday. Talking to reporters in Jalgaon, some 400 kilometres from here, Patole slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for rubbing salt into the wounds of farmers and unemployed youth.
«The state government is blowing its own trumpet claiming it is giving crop insurance for Re 1.
The share of premium being paid by the state and Union governments to insurance firms is also public money,» he claimed.
«The government has paid crores of rupees to insurance firms as part of the Pradhan Mantri crop insurance scheme. There is a drought in the state and the government has asked insurance firms to give 25 per cent as compensation for loss of soybean crop but the firms have thrown this request into the dustbin,» he alleged.
Asserting that these firms were not heeding the government, Patole alleged the PM crop insurance scheme was not for farmers but for the benefit of «select friends» of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
«Banana and cotton farmers in Jalgaon are in deep distress. On one hand, banana is not fetching any price in the market and on the other several have faced crop loss due to pest attacks.
But the BJP government has ignored these farmers. The Congress will launch protests in every district in the state in the next 15 days to raise farmers' issues,» Patole said.
Mocking the Centre, Patole said the PM promised to double farm income but only the number of suicides of farmers has doubled.
«If farmers get fair prices, they will not commit suicide. Onion prices are down and the Modi government imposed 40 per cent export duty. The government should declare drought in the
