For years now farmer suicides have been an issue that has been plaguing the country and an effective tool for heated political debates. While the Land Bill has proved controversial and anti farmer, more and more farmers are taking their lives.
Now Union Agriculture Minister, Radha Mohan Singh, has joined the foot-in-mouth brigade by saying that farmer suicides are a product of love affairs, drugs and impotence as opposed to financial burdens, which are in the real world responsible for the crisis.
The minister clarified soon saying he “only considered statistics by the national crime data”. But, the opposition lost no time in making full use of the opportunity. Rahul Gandhi advised the government to visit homes of farmers, the one hing he is pretty good at, and Yogendra Yadav reiterated his stand that the government was anti-farmer and pro-industrialist.
Earlier the BJP was criticised when a Haryana minister labelled farmers as cowards for committing suicides. In another instance a Maharashtra minister said that only four farmers had committed suicide in the state as none of the others left a suicide note.
Preventive action and financial assistance can save lives of many farmers, but political parties are too busy politicising the issue and insulting their suffering.
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