Suicides by farmers a sin of the Congress-NCP govt: BJP

Mumbai: BJP on Friday dubbed suicides by farmers in Maharashtra as the “sin” of erstwhile UPA regime, a day after NCP took a jibe the saffron party over a “spurt” in such incidents and asked it to let Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlight the issue at ‘Make in India Week’ starting on Saturday.

State BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari on Friday alleged, “In order to maintain their political supremacy, the leaders in the previous government deliberately kept Marathwada backward.”

BJP was riled by the remarks made by the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde who asked the party to let Modi also turn the spotlight on the issue of farmer deaths at the high-profile event where delegates from across the globe are participating.

“Those criticising ‘Make In India’ in the name of farmers should first give account of the multi-crore irrigation scam. The aim of ‘Make In Maharashtra’ is to put up industries in Marathwada and other backward regions of the state which will provide jobs to the local youth,” Bhandari said.

He alleged that the farmers failed to get water for their farms because of the “15-year-long corrupt” rule of the Congress-NCP combine.

Munde had also alleged that the BJP-led government has no time to pay attention to drought conditions in the state as it is busy in organising the event.

He claimed that 189 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in January alone and alleged the government is misguiding the courts by stating false numbers.

“While Prime Minister is coming here to inaugurate ‘Make in India Week’, he also needs to show to global leaders the farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra,” Munde had said.

Meanwhile, city unit NCP president Sachin Ahir on Friday held a demonstration at Girgaum Chowpatty (seafront), one of the venues of ‘Make In India’ event.

“The government has apparently forgotten its own assurance of declaring the place (Girgaum Chowpatty) where Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was cremated as ‘Swaraj Bhoomi’,” Ahir said.

He said the advertisements issued by the government mentions the place merely as Girgaum Chowpatty.

“The government has no concern at all for prevailing drought conditions in the state even as it spends crores of rupees in organising the ‘Make In India’ event in Mumbai,” Ahir said.

PTI