New Delhi:While farmers' suicide has become a debatable political issue these days, a Maharashtra lawmaker's bizarre comment on the 'dreamgirl of Bollywood' Hema Malini has given an ugly twist to a highly sensitive issue.


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According to reports, Maharashtra's independent MLA Bacchu Kadu had triggered a controversy when he dismissed claims that alcohol consumption was responsible for farmers’ suicide but made an unpleasant comparison with the BJP MP's name in 


“Hema Malini drinks everyday, but does she commit suicide?” Kadu reportedly said.


Kadu made these remarks while speaking at a function in Nanded, Maharashtra.


During the event, Kadu said even the notion that farmers commit suicide due to burden of excess expenditure on marriages is incorrect. 


Detailing the argument he said, “ All these reasons are nonsensical. Gadkari spent Rs four crore on his son’s wedding. So should we now wait for him to commit suicide?”


Maharashtra has been grappling with severe farm crisis and reports farmer suicides almost every other day. Nearly 90 lakh farmers have been impacted by the drought , official data shows.


As many as 3,228 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015 , according to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha on March 4, 2016–that is almost nine farmers every day. Vidarbha and Marathwada, with 5.7 million farmers, accounted for 83% of all farmer suicides in Maharashtra in 2015


The real cause, according to Kadu, was the is lack of money. “Professor Swamninathan always said that farmers’ produce is increasing but not their income,” he said.


Earlier, RJD leader Lalu Prasad had courted controversy by ‘promising to make the roads in Bihar ‘as smooth as Hema Malini’s cheeks.’