Protests Rule MP as Floods, Farmers and Loan Waivers Give Fodder to Cong, BJP Leaders for Blame Game

Bhopal: Multiple protests by leaders and workers of the ruling as well as opposition camps were witnessed across the state on Monday over flood relief and plight of farmers.

The Congress workers protested against the Centre’s ‘step motherly treatment’ over flood relief and for not granting adequate funds to the state to deal with the massive damage caused by the recent deluge. They even urged BJP leaders to stage a dharna in New Delhi against their own government at the Centre to make the latter release funds for the state.

Higher Education minister Jitu Patwari said former chief minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan was shedding crocodile tears for farmers as he had done nothing for them during his years of rule.

He also sought to know how the farmers plunged into so much debt even as the previous BJP government continued to receive Krishi Karman award over the last 15 years.

“It was during Chouhan’s tenure that police had shot down six farmers in Mandsaur, over 15,000 farmers had committed suicide while thousands of farmers were slapped with fake cases,” said Patwari.

Chouhan was in Rewa district during the day to inspect crop damage suffered by farmers in the area.

Further, Patwari called out the Narendra Modi government for not giving the state enough funds to deal with recent floods. Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot also hit out at the Centre for not releasing any money for Madhya Pradesh that suffered extensive damage due to the deluge.

“Madhya Pradesh is yet to receive anything from the Centre,” said Bhanot, while adding that states like Karnataka and Odisha have given relief packages.

Regarding the controversy over farm loan waivers, Bhanot said his government had never claimed that loans of all farmers have been waived. About 20lakh ryots were covered in the first phase, while the remaining would be offered waiver in the next phases.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders accused the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state of not doing anything for flood-hit farmers and instead shifting the blame on the Centre. They also agitated against alleged inflated bills being handed to electricity consumers in the state.

In Bhopal, Leader of Opposition in MP assembly Gopal Bhargav led a protest close to the Collectorate while senior Congress leader Suresh Pachauri addressed a rally in another part of the city.

“It’s an anti-farmer government, as it did not waive farm loans, did not halve electricity bills and no relief has been offered to flood-hit farmers,” said a BJP leader.

BJP state president Rakesh Singh also accused the Congress government of lying endlessly on issues like farm loan waiver, flood relief and electricity bills. “Forget extending flood-relief, the state government did not even carry out a survey for crop damage in the state,” said Singh.