Bhopal: Farmers’ issues given short-shrift as leaders engage in slugfest

Bhopal: Farmers’ issues given short-shrift as leaders engage in slugfest

Staff ReporterUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 05:01 AM IST
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BHOPAL: Narendra Modi, post-Godhra riots, anti-Sikh violence in Delhi, Vyapam, Rahul Gandhi and why he was a ‘Pappu’, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nathuram Godse.

All these names figured in the debate on the adjournment motion moved by 48 MLAs on the firing on farmers at Mandsaur and the problems of the cultivators, in Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday. The debate, which began at 12 noon and continued till 8 pm, with a one-and-a-half-hour lunch break, was inconclusive. It would continue on Wednesday, when leader of opposition Ajay Singh and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan are expected to speak.

As soon as the motion was tabled, the government offered to admit it. And it immediately turned into a slugfest between the opposition and ruling party. The problems afflicting the farmers and the issue of their suicides were given a short-shrift as the members pounced on each-other, trading charges relating to the history of their respective parties.

Even the ministers claimed that the farmers were ‘incited’ into committing violence. While home minister Bhupendra Singh was content with blaming rumours on social media, minister for panchayats Gopal Bhargava squarely held the Congress responsible. He said it was the Congress that had misled the farmers. He also said the condition of farmers were worse off in Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand. “But why did the agitation turn violent in the relatively prosperous Malwa region?” he asked.

The speakers from the treasury benches also reeled out statistics to prove how well-off the farmers in the state were and how the Chouhan government had turned the state into a paradise for cultivators. “When the state is leader in agricultural production, it is self-evident that the farmers must be prosperous,” Bhargava said.

Kailash Chawla, a BJP MLA from Mandsaur said the agitation was ‘a well-planned conspiracy of the Congress which has a history of whipping up violence.’ MoS Vishwas Sarang went a step further. He said the ‘conspiracy’ was hatched at the AICC office and Rahul Gandhi had visited Mandsaur to ‘see its climax’. He called the protests ‘orchestrated’.

Yashpal Singh Sisodia of the BJP wanted the Congress to take responsibility for the death of the farmers. All the BJP members insisted that the farmers could not simply throw their produce away.

Making fun of the CM’s fast-unto-death, Mahendra Singh Kalukheda of the Congress said it was probably for the first time that members of bereaved families were summoned to Bhopal so that the CM could offer condolences to them. Jitu Patwari accused Chouhan of ‘shamelessly sticking to his chair’ while making the collector and SP of Mandsaur scapegoats.

Mukesh Nayak asked why the government, to date, had failed to discover who had ordered firing on the farmers. When the HM said a judicial commission was probing the incident, Nayak countered, “Your government has so far appointed 12 judicial commissions and the report of none of them has been tabled in the House.”

Hardeep Singh Dang of the Congress claimed every bullet had a number, even as other members laughed. Ramniwas Rawat said six farmers ended their life in the state every day.

Some members also quoted Urdu couplets. However, the issues of farmers were missing from their speeches, barring passing references to loan waiver. Some oppoisition members wanted to know why the government could not waive the loans when the Maharashtra, Punjab and UP governments had done so.

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