In the wake of Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu's comment against loan waiver, Congress on Thursday said that former's party is "anti-farmer" and the Cabinet Minister "himself doesn't care about the farmers". Meanwhile, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today came under attack from the Aam Aadmi Party and the CPI (M) for his comment that seeking loan waivers had become a "fashion".
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had urged Narendra Modi on Wednesday to waive farm loans taken from commercial and nationalised banks as well. "It's sad to see such statements coming from these senior BJP leaders." said Manisha Kayande of the Shiv Sena. "We need to do more than loan waiver, not mock farmers", Yechury said in a tweet. He said loans amounting to Rs 8,165 crore will be waived through the state government's move, helping over 22.27 lakh farmers. "The farmers should be taken care in distress", Naidu said at India's largest municipal bond programme here.
Farmers in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha recently protested over various issues concerning them, including the demand for waiving off their loans.
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Earlier in Mumbai, Naidu said the loan waivers are not a final solution. A day after Karnataka chose to waive farmer loans, Niadu said that loan should be waived only when its in extreme situations only.
Naidu, however, later defended his stance, while saying that he was referring to the approach of the political parties who are not focussing on long term, but only short term problems. "We have not done it in so many years after Independence", he said. "Also, we will have to ensure that affordable credit is available to these farmers". Naidu said political parties should focus on bringing in structural policy changes, instead of adopting short-term measures such as loan waiver.
"You don't see a fashion in it when you waive loans of the rich". Naidu said it was "surprising" that political parties which were in power for years and "did nothing" for farmers, are trying to blame this government for the farmers' plight.
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