Maharashtra Legislative Assembly almost witnessed a physical attack on BJP MLA Prashant Bamb, but the speaker's timely intervention saved the legislature from an embarrassing situation. Bamb, while speaking on the issue of farm loan waiver raised by the opposition MLAs from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party(NCP), backed strongly by Shiv Sena, said, “I know that many will disagree with me, but farmers in Maharashtra do not need a loan waiver.”
Opposition MLAs, along with Shambhuraje Desai, Sunil Prabhu and Subhash Sabane of Shiv Sena, became very aggressive. Prashant Bamb tried to continue his speech, but Shiv Sena MLAs marched towards him. Prashant Thakur, another BJP MLA, came to the rescue of Bamb. Speaker Haribhau Bagade intervened and a physical confrontation was averted.
Congress and NCP MLAs, along with other opposition parties like Samajwadi Party, Communist party and Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), had undertaken a 'Sangharsh Yatra' from Vidarbha to Konkan, demanding a complete waiver of farm loans.
Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, “Maharashtra has witnessed over 9000 suicides in the last 3 years. 100 farmers have committed suicides while the present budget session of the assembly was underway. But, there are no provisions for loan waiver in the budget.”
31 lakh farmers in the state have defaulted on their loans. If it decides to waive off the loans, the state will have to provide for Rs 31,000 crore.
Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena MP, while speaking to reporters said, “BJP has the finances to cause defections. They have spent over Rs 50,000 crores for the municipal corporation elections. But it does not have money to provide relief to farmers in distress.”
He said that the ailing farmers in Maharashtra went bankrupt due to the fall in prices caused by demonetisation. Raut said, “There is a complete absence of will in the BJP. If farmers in UP are getting their loans waived off, why the step-brotherly treatment towards the farmers in Maharashtra?”
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced that he asked the finance secretary to study the UP loan waiver and whether the state could afford it.
