Bhupinder Singh Hooda blames Centre's 'anti-farmer' policies for spate of suicides

Yamunanagar: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Sunday hit out at the Centre, claiming that tillers are at crossroads and staring at a disaster due to its “anti-farmer” policies. The BJP government at the Centre must immediately implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, he demanded at his ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Panchayat’ rally in Haryana. [caption id=“attachment_3708023” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Bhupinder Singh Hooda. News18[/caption] “Do not test the patience of hard working farmers. The Centre should implement the recommendations, otherwise we will force the government to do so,” Hooda warned. He alleged that the “anti-farmer” policies of the BJP-led central government were responsible for farmer suicides in the country. “Farmers in the country are at crossroads. Thousands of farmers in the past three years have been forced to commit suicide. They are staring at a disaster due to the government’s anti-farmer policies which are responsible for cases of farmer suicide,” Hooda alleged. He said a farmer is not alone, “even farm labourers and others are taking a stand with them against the anti-farmer policies”. The former chief minister alleged that the BJP, before the polls, had promised to implement the Commission’s report, but once it came to power it “forgot about it”. “They promised to give a minimum support price of Rs 2,100 per quintal for wheat, but how much the farmers are getting now? The same goes for the paddy crop. “It is an irony that farmers who grow cotton, paddy, potato and tomato are getting lower prices for their produce, but prices of products manufactured from these crops — garments, rice, chips and ketchup — continue to rise,” he said. Claiming that the Manmohan Singh government had waived about Rs 72,000 crore of farmers’ loans, he said the central government cannot just “wash their hands off” by leaving it to the states. Hooda also hit out at the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana, saying it had failed on all fronts. “What is the state of affairs in Haryana, there is acute power shortage. Two and a half years have passed, but they have failed to take even one decision in the interest of farmers,” he said. The former chief minister had recently held a ‘Maha Kisan Panchayat’ in Jind. Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda also addressed today’s function in Haryana.