Congress will launch a nationwide agitation next month against agrarian distress and press its demand for farm loan waivers in states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Buoyed by its electoral success in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the Congress is hoping that raising farmers’ issues will pay it rich dividends in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“The BJP government, by intent and policy, wants to make India kisan-mukt Bharat but now the farmers have taken a decision to make the central government BJP-mukt in 2019. The farmers’ issues are not a priority for the BJP government because they are busy with headline management rather than nation management,” Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said.
The party’s farmer cell, the Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress, has decided to hold protests across the country against the BJP government for “ignoring” agrarian distress and expose its “anti-farmer mindset”. Its chief, Nana Patole said: “The Niti Aayog has given a statement on farm loan waivers. When Rahul Gandhi called for a farm loan waiver in Parliament, the BJP had problems. The fact is that the Prime Minister and the BJP are against farmers and the Niti Aayog statement clearly shows their anti-farmer mindset.”
Niti Aayog had on Wednesday said such a move helped only a fraction of farmers and was no solution to mitigate agrarian distress.