Twitter
Advertisement

Congress turns up heat against government on farmers' suicide

Referring to the suicides by farmers, Venugopal said a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu were protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi with the 'skulls' of those who had committed suicide.

Latest News
article-main
Congress MP KC Venugopal in Lok Sabha on Monday
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Issues of farmers' suicide, meagre increase in funds for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), and Governor-aided formation of BJP government in Goa and Manipur reverberated in Lok Sabha. The arguments resulted in intermittent clashes between the Opposition and treasury benches on Monday.

As the House began discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grants (General), KC Venugopal of Congress attacked the Modi government for providing inadequate funds for the MGNREGA scheme.

Reminding that the MNREGA scheme was dubbed as a 'monument of Congress failure' by PM Modi, Venugopal argued that the scheme has seen only one per cent hike in allocation.

Referring to the suicides by farmers, Venugopal said a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu were protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi with the 'skulls' of those who had committed suicide.

Senior AIADMK leader and Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai took exception to the remarks regarding the human skulls and said these were baseless and claimed that Tamil Nadu government was taking care of the issues of the farming community.

Tathagat Satpathy of BJD, too, questioned the remarks of Venugopal, leading to a war of words.

Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge also intervened and said that his party (Congress) colleague was not referring to a particular state but highlighting the plight of farmers across India. He also questioned the demonetization move and its effects on the gross domestic product.

Venugopal questioned the decision of the government to waive farmers' loan in Uttar Pradesh and said such loans should be waived off in the entire country.

When some BJP members questioned Venugopal on farm loans, he said that the Congress has all the rights to seek a nationwide waiver like the previous United Progressive Alliance government led by Congress had done.

Referring to the PM's statement that democracy needed to be strengthened, Venugopal alleged that the finance minister and the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar were involved in placing a BJP government in Goa in an unethical way despite lacking the numbers.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said Venugopal should avoid speaking on 'irrelevant things' and should give a separate notice on the issue so that the House can discuss it.

Rejecting Congress charges, Kirit Somaiya of BJP quoted a latest report by PricewaterhouseCoopers which he said ranked India as the third largest economy with a total volume of $19.51 trillion (Rs 124 lakh crore).

Congress 'devalued' itself in Uttar Pradesh polls and it has now become difficult to find the party in the state, Somaiya said.

"Our government has done so much. Nostradamus had predicted that a leader from the East will emerge strongly and take his country to a new high. That leader is Narendra Modi," Somaiya said.

Congress leader PL Puniya said that as per government's figures, Maharashtra (4,291), Karnataka (1,569), Telangana (1,400), Madhya Pradesh (1,290), Chhattisgarh (954), Andhra Pradesh (916) and Tamil Nadu (606) reported the maximum number of farmers' suicides during 2015.

"This is a sad commentary on the status of our Annadata– the Kisaan, who are forced to undergoing hardship and tribulations under the present BJP Government at centre. The Government is flashing 6 per cent Agricultural Growth. But there is a yawning gap between the growth numbers and the actual reality," said Puniya.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement