Politics on boil over farmers’ suicides in MP CM’s home district

Chouhan and Kamal Nath in a face-off; Digvijaya Singh to visit bereaved families

shivraj-singh-kamal-nath Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former CM Kamal Nath

A political row has erupted in by-poll bound Madhya Pradesh with reports of suicides by two farmers in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s home district Sehore during the past two days.

While the Congress, led by ex-chief minister Kamal Nath and Rajya Sabha member Digivijaya Singh, has said that the suicides were spurred by total crop damage during recent excessive rains and unpaid farm loans, Chief Minister Chouhan has called linking of the suicides to crop loss as ‘cheap politics’.

After the suicide of farmer Babulal Verma, 60, in Gudbhela Napli under Mandi police station in Sehore district on Wednesday morning, reports of suicide by another farmer Ramesh Malviya of village Kurli Kala in Jawar tehsil of the district came in on Thursday.

The son and mother of Malviya, in a video available on social media, claim that the farmer was depressed since the crop in his farm was damaged completely in recent rainfall and he faced farm and other loans.

In the case of Verma, while his nephew had said that the farmer was depressed due to crop damage, the deceased’s son has claimed that his father was ailing and mentally not very stable. The videos of all these claims were uploaded by Congress leaders and CM Chouhan himself on social media.

CM Chouhan attacked Kamal Nath in a series of tweets saying that Verma was ailing for a long time, had four surgeries and his mental condition was not stable. The CM, while attaching the video of the son of the deceased, added that there was no situation of farm loan or crop damage with the deceased.

“Are falsehood and confusion the politics of Congress? Does such insensitive politics on a death suit you? You are the leader of the opposition, state president of the Congress and a former CM. At least you should refrain from such cheap politics and maintain the dignity of your posts,” Chouhan tweeted.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kamal Nath had tweeted that a farmer committed suicide in CM’s home district due to crop damage. “Soybean crops have already been damaged in a large part of the state. Now, excessive rain and flood have led to damage of various crops in a 15 lakh hectare area,” Nath had tweeted. He had added that the CM was making shallow assurances to the farmers after visiting flood-hit areas when the farmers and people actually needed relief.

Digvijaya in attack mode, to visit families

Meanwhile, ex-CM and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh has also launched an attack on the BJP government and CM Chouhan on the issue of farmers’ suicide. Sharing the video of deceased farmer Malviya’s son, Singh tweeted: “Listen CM Chouhan and your ministers. Ramesh Malviya was not mentally unstable. You should get checked yours (mental situation).” Singh said that Malviya has five bigha land and there was a loan of Rs 6 lakh on him.

He added that the crop has been damaged completely but the Sehore district administration was busy in service of the CM because the only thing they wanted was to retain their posts while people could fend for themselves. “You should be ashamed, Shivraj ji,” Singh tweeted.

The RS member also announced that he will visit the two bereaved families on September 4 and find out from them as to under what conditions the farmers took the extreme step.

Singh said that as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 42,480 farmers had committed suicide in 2019. “Were all of them afflicted by mental ailments? You said in 2016 too that farmers’ suicides were caused by bad spirits,” Singh tweeted, taking a potshot at urban administration minister Bhupendra Singh who on late Wednesday night had pointed out ailment and mental instability as reasons for Verma’s suicide.

Meanwhile, Narendra Saluja, media coordinator of Kamal Nath, had posted a video of the deceased Verma’s nephew where he says that there was crop damage, Verma had gone to the fields and then committed suicide. 

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