Suicide fashionable for farmers: BJP MP Gopal Shetty

At a time when Maharashtra is battling an agrarian crisis, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Gopal Shetty has kicked up a controversy by attributing farmers’ suicides to a “fashion” and “trend” to end lives. As his remarks sparked criticism from the Congress, which said it reflected the ruling party’s “insensitivity” towards farmers, Shetty said his statement was “completely distorted” and taken out of context by the media.

“Not all farmers’ suicides happen due to unemployment and starvation. A fashion is going on. A trend is on,” Shetty, an MP from North Mumbai, said on Wednesday.

The remarks come at a time when Maharashtra is reeling under an agrarian crisis with 124 farmers having committed suicide in the state since January this year. “If the Maharashtra government is giving Rs 5 lakh as compensation, then some other government in neighbouring state is giving Rs 7 lakh,” the MP said.

“There is a competition in these people in giving money (compensation) to farmers,” he said.