Will waive...

While Bjp-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have announced farm loan waivers, the Madhya Pradesh government has not made any such announcement so far. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced an incentive scheme in which farmers get 10% subsidy on the principal amount while repaying the loan. Virtually kicking off the Congress’s campaign for the MP elections due later this year, Gandhi laid out the party’s vision for providing employment to farmers and the youth, saying he planned to set up food processing units near villages. “We will set up food processing units near farms, where the farmers will sell their goods directly and the son’s of farmers will get employment in these factories,” he said.

Gandhi lashed out at the state government and the Centre for ignoring the farm distress across the country. He also met families of the farmers who were killed in the police firing. “The families of the farmers [killed in Mandsaur last year] will get justice in 10 days and we will take action against those responsible for the firing,” he said. “In the entire country, farmers are demanding their rights, yelling and committing suicides, but the Modi government and BJP government in the states have little space for them,” the Congress chief said.

He also attacked the PM over his stance on India’s relations with China. “Our Indian shops are full of Chinese goods, he wears a Chinese watch, he sits in the swing with the Chinese president in Gujarat and then China attacks India at Doklam, and Modi says nothing,” Gandhi said.

The Congress president said his dream was that on his next visit, “I should be able to carry a phone marked ‘made in Mandsaur’, and people in China should eat garlic produced in Mandsaur.” Defending the MP government on the issue of farm loans, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said farmers were not in debt in the state because of profarmer policies. The Congress’s state president Kamal Nath and campaign committee chairman Jyotiradiya Scindia also attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government at the rally.