Sharad Pawar advises Fadnavis to learn from Nepal; Sule demands farm loan waiver

“Devabhau, I have a request to you. Take a look around and see what’s happening. In Nepal, people overthrew a government which failed to meet their aspirations. I am sure that Devabhau and his colleagues will emerge wise out of it,” he said.

“Debt is the biggest malaise that farmers face, and there should be a solution to this problem. If the government continues to turn a blind eye to the agrarian crisis, the (farmer) suicides, which are in thousands, may go to lakhs, and we can’t be mute spectators,” he said. The NCP-SP demanded that the government declare a wet drought and complete loan waiver for farmers.

NCP (SP) working president and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule said if the government doesn’t announce loan waiver in a month, the party will not let ministers move around in the state.

Sule said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under Dr Manmohan Singh, in which Sharad Pawar was Union Agriculture Minister, gave Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver to farmers. “The government gave funds to women (Ladki Bahin Yojana) and in the first phase of review removed names of 25 lakh women. We will not tolerate this. We will launch a public movement against this,” she added.

During the protest, the NCP (SP) leaders also sought an appropriate minimum support price (MSP) for onion, grapes and other crops.

“Maharashtra has given Rs 2 lakh crore to the national treasury in the form of GST in the last eight years. Why can’t the government give Rs 35,000 crore for loan waiver?” NCP (SP) general secretary Rohit Pawar asked.