Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told the Lok Sabha on Thursday that farmers across India were in a terrible state, prompting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to reply that those who had governed the country for decades were to blame. Gandhi raised the issue during Zero Hour in a short maiden speech in the 17th Lok Sabha, concentrating on Kerala and on farmers in Wayanad, the constituency that elected him.

Gandhi’s charges

Gandhi asked the Prime Minister to improve the lot of farmers. He said a farmer in Wayanad had taken his life on Wednesday because of heavy debt, and that farmers faced eviction as banks pressed for repayment. Nearly 8,000 farmers in Wayanad alone had received bank notices for non-payment, he said, and their properties were being attached against loans. He said 18 farmers in Kerala had killed themselves as a result.

He said the Kerala government had declared a moratorium on farm loan repayments until December 31, but the Centre was refusing to ask the RBI to put it into effect. Over the last five years, he alleged, the BJP government had given Rs 4.3 lakh crore in tax concessions and waived Rs 5.5 lakh crore for wealthy businessmen. “Why does the government act as if our farmers are inferior to the rich?” he asked, adding that the Budget had offered farmers no concrete relief. He urged the government to honour the promises Modi made to farmers five years earlier on prices and loans.

Rajnath Singh’s reply

Singh said the plight of farmers was the result of long Congress rule and insisted that no prime minister had done as much for farmers as Narendra Modi. “Those who ruled the country for a long time are responsible for their state,” he said. He claimed that the government’s annual payment of Rs 6,000 to farmers would raise their income by 20%-25%, that more farmers had killed themselves before the BJP-led government took office, and that no earlier government had raised the MSP as much.

See also: Indian National Congress, Lok Sabha members.

Originally published on 12 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us