‘BJP govt surrendered Rs 1 lakh crore agri budget in last 5 yrs while farmers suffered’

CHANDIGARH: Congress MP Deepender Hooda has stated that a recent report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, which indicated that the government had surrendered more than Rs 1 lakh crore meant for welfare schemes of farmers, has exposed the anti-farmer face of the Union government. He said thousands of lives could have been saved with this money as more than 1 lakh farmers have committed suicide during the 10-year BJP rule in the country.

Addressing the press conference at the Indian National Congress headquarters on Tuesday, Deepender said the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare proved that the Agriculture Ministry has nothing to do with farmer welfare.

He questioned whether this agricultural budget of Rs 1 lakh crore was surrendered so that more loans of corporate houses could be waived off and difficulties would increase for the farmers. “This data is going to rub salt on the wounds of the farmers, and open up wounds inflicted on the farmers by their own government.

The NCRB data shows that during the rule of BJP government, more than 1 lakh farmers committed suicide from 2014 to 2022. That means 30 farmers are committing suicide every day,” he said.

“Farmers are not cowards, they take tough decisions like suicide only when all their avenues are closed. For the past 5 years, debt-ridden farmers in the country have been forced to commit suicide, but the Agriculture Ministry has been silently surrendering lakhs of crores of rupees,” he said.