Congress did nothing to help farmers in the past: Advani

Taking a dig at the portion of the Budget speech where Finance Minister P Chidambaram quoted Saint Thiruvalluvar’s words, saying “generous grants...

Taking a dig at the portion of the Budget speech where Finance Minister P Chidambaram quoted Saint Thiruvalluvar’s words, saying “generous grants, compassion, righteous rule and succour to the downtrodden are the hallmarks of good governance”, Opposition leader L K Advani on Friday said that he was surprised that the FM had been reminded of these words only in the last year of his office.

“This Government came to power on the slogan of ‘aam aadmi’. But it is the ‘aam aadmi’, especially the ‘aam aurat’, who has suffered the most during the past four years as a result of back-breaking price rise and insecurity of life and limb,” Advani said. “The farmers have suffered no end as a result of agrarian distress and thousands of them were forced to commit suicide. All these years, the government has merely looked on. Now, in the last year of their office, they are reminding us of the elements of good governance. I have no doubt that people will easily see through this charade,” he added.

Advani also said the waiver of farm loans had not only come too late but was also insufficient. “A large number of farmers in our country have taken loans from private moneylenders. Arrangements should have been made to provide relief to them also. The rate of interest on farm loans should also have been reduced to four per cent. The farmer should also have been covered under an assured income insurance scheme,” he added.

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Raising doubts about the feasibility of remitting farm loans by June 30 this year, as announced by the FM, Advani said that the FM had said nothing about the administrative arrangements needed for such an exercise. He also expressed surprise at the “heavy communal overtones of the budget” saying that “it is a throw back to the Liaqat Ali days, the consequences of which are well-known.”

BJP’s national president Rajnath Singh said that a populist budget appeared on the cards considering the impending general elections. “The government has waived off the banking loans of small farmers, but there is no plan to give relief to a large number of farmers, who are trapped in the clutches of money lenders,” he said pointing out that the growth rate in agriculture was “a dismal 2.6 percent”.