Waive off loans or face consequences in 2019 Lok Sabha polls: Protesting farmers in Delhi

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NEW DELHI: Staging a protest at Parliament Street in New Delhi on Tuesday, a group of farmers threatened the government either waive off loans or face consequences in upcoming national elections in 2019.

“We are under debt and everyday farmers are committing suicide. We are here to tell the government to implement Swaminathan Report and waive off loans. Otherwise, they will face the consequences in 2019 polls,” said a farmer.

In Maharashtra, the Kisan Sabha led a protest march to press for an unconditional loan waiver and transfer of forest land to tribal cultivators who have been tilling it for years. The march started from Nashik on March 6. The protesting farmers reached Mumbai late on Sunday.

The protest was called off following the meeting between a delegation of agitating farmers and the Maharashtra government, where several demands of the farmers were discussed. 

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Congress raised questions over senior CPI leader and former MLA Narsaiya Adam's act to urge Fadnavis not to announce the details of the meeting in public.

The Congress on Monday alleged that farmer suicides have increased by 41.7 per cent since the formation of the Modi government in May 2014 and accused it of shedding "false tears" for them while benefiting the middlemen.

"The report of Crime Records Bureau shows that farmer suicides have grown by 41.7 per cent since the formation of the Modi government. The maximum suicides have taken place in Maharashtra. The number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra stood at 2,414 from January to October last year," Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and R.P.N. Singh said in a statement.

With agency inputs