The issue of farmers committing suicide rocked both the Houses of the Maharashtra legislature on the opening day of the Monsoon Session on Monday, with members of the opposition demanding a total waiver of farmers’ loans, and not just the interest. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh faced a scathing attack for asking officials to go soft on Congress MLA and moneylender Dilip Sananda. The legislature was forced by opposition members to suspend all business on the day’s agenda to debate suicides.
‘‘A Congress MLA whose family business is lending money to farmers, has several cases registered against him,’’ leader of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena) said, adding, ‘‘And on the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil has been saying that he would take strict action against moneylenders and whip them. Is Patil going to whim this moneylender?’’
Kadam said that merely waiving interest would not solve the problem and demanded that the entire debt be written off to provide relief to farmers.
In the Legislative Council, the leader of the opposition Pandurang Phundkar (BJP) alleged that the chief minister was trying to protect the moneylender Congress MLA. ‘‘This moneylender has 44 cases registered against him,’’ Phundkar claimed, ‘‘but the chief minister has put pressure on officials and they are not taking action against him. The local superintendent of police (SP) was transferred when he refused to oblige. How can we expect this government to deliver justice to farmers?’’
R R Patil told the council that there was no pressure from the chief minister in the case. ‘‘There is no pressure from the chief minister on officials,’’ Patil said, ‘‘And the transfer of the local SP was as per government rules that an SP has to be transferred after two years in a district.’’
Speaking in the Assembly, BJP group leader Gopinath Munde demanded stern action against moneylenders who were driving farmers to commit suicide.
‘‘The package announced by the prime minister is just an eyewash,’’ he said, ‘‘We need a total waiver of loans, not just of interest. The farmers should get direct loans instead of loans being routed through a chain of cooperative banks. The interest on loan for buying a Mercedes is seven percent but farmers have to pay 14 per cent. We also need a comprehensive irrigation package and changes in the yardstick for granting loans.’’
Munde said that development in the state had been confined only to cities like Mumbai and Pune. His sentiments were echoed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari in the Legislative Council.
He alleged that the much publicised relief package for farmers was in fact a package for cooperative banks in the state. He lambasted the government for ignoring the plight of farmers. “We don’t want to go on counting dead bodies of farmers,” he said, “make a provision of Rs 10,000 crore in the state budget for enhancing irrigation potential so that farmers don’t have to commit suicide.” About forty speakers cutting across party lines spoke on the issue urging the government to take measures to prevent suicide by farmers and provide relief to them. Members from the treasury benches, like Rohidas Patil (Congress) called for an end to mudslinging on the issue as suicides had also taken place during the Shiv Sena-BJP rule in the state.