‘Impotent’ farmers end life: Minister
Later, minister said his speech was highlighted out of context
It is shocking that Radha Mohan Singh denied in his written reply that more than 1,400 farmer suicides in the country were not due to financial distress but due to drugs and impotency — PRATAP SINGH
BAJWA, Punjab Congress chief
In the backdrop of farmers committing suicide due to agrarian cause across the country, the minister of agriculture, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said reasons of such suicides include love affairs and impotence.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal demanded an apology from agricultural minister Radha Mohan Singh for the “insensitive” reply on farmers’ suicides.
Mr Singh, however, sought to downplay the controversy. He stated that the answer was based on a report by the National Crime Research Board (NCRB), which the government cites in its replies.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury claimed the government’s reply was “ridiculous” and that ground reality was different. He also alleged that the number of distress suicides has gone up by 26 per cent in the last one year since the NDA came to power. Mr Yechury added that the reply was meant to “divert attention” from the actual reasons for the suicides.
JD-U leader K.C. Tyagi said apart from being insensitive, it was an “insult” to farmers. He threatened to move a privilege notice against the minister for “misleading” Parliament.
In a damage control attempt, the ministry, however, issued a late evening issue saying it considers the issue of farmer suicide with “great sensitivity” and deals this matter with all the “seriousness it deserves.”
“...it was not the intention of the hon’ble minister of agriculture to attribute the causes of farmers’ suicide to issues like love affair etc. It has been taken out of context and is being highlighted in an unwarranted manner,” it said.
The ministry in its reply has mentioned that “causes of suicides by farmers due to agrarian reasons, interalia, include indebtedness, crop failure, drought, etc,” it added.