Loan waiver a gimmick, says Advani

Saying that the Congress leadership was in a self-congratulatory mood after announcing a Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver for a certain category of farmers, BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday called the move a gimmick if viewed in its totality.

“Who made the farmers so debt-ridden that thousands of them in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere were driven to suicide?” Advani asked while addressing a rally organised by BJP’s Haryana unit in Jind. “The UPA Government’s Economic Review of 2004 pays rich compliments to NDA’s handling of inflation and agriculture. The blame for today’s situation is squarely with this Government,” he said, asking why 52 per cent of rural families were still untouched by the banking sector and had to depend on private money lenders for their credit need.

Underlining the issue of price rise, Advani said there was an unprecedented rise in the prices of all essential commodities like foodgrains, edible oil and medicines.

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Targeting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her comments made during a Congress rally in Jhajjar, he said: “She had said that all those opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal were not only enemies of the Congress but also the enemies of India’s development… The BJP is opposed to the nuclear deal because it reverses India’s achievements in Pokharan I and Pokharan II.”

Saying that the countdown of the UPA Government had begun, Advani said the Government’s unpopularity was growing “on account of its betrayals, failures and non-performance”.