Mamata minister terms farmer suicides ‘politics of Opposition’

“The Opposition is playing politics by referring to deaths of persons entirely due to some different reasons as suicide of potato farmers… It must be stopped,” Roy said.

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Earlier, in first such case from north Bengal, Nritya Gopal Burman, 45, took his life by hanging himself at his home at Nathua under Dhupguri block this morning, police said. The farmer was unhappy as he could not sell the crop at remunerative prices.

The police quoted the deceased’s family members as saying that Burman had sown potato in his land and had taken loans from various banks for the purpose. Dhupguri BDO Soumen Dutraj confirmed the death.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Left leaders on Wednesday met Governor K N Tripathi and sought his intervention into the matter.

Alleging that “20 potato farmers” across the state have committed suicide, the delegation, led by MLA Anisur Rahaman, urged the Governor that the state government should purchase all potato produce from the farmers at a support price immediately.

The deputation said that farmers were committing suicide as they had been forced to sell the produce at less than half of the production cost and the state had done nothing to help them out of the crisis.

“The inaction of the state government has, on the other hand, encouraged hoarders and black marketer,” Rahaman said.

With PTI inputs