The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Parties demand farm loan waiver
DEMONETISATION BRINGS JD(U), NCP, JD(S), RLD TOGETHER
TWO DAYS after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called “note ban” a “positive step”, his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav struck a different line on Monday as he targeted the Centre over implementation of the demonetisation decision and said nearly 4 crore vegetable growers have been affected.
Yadav’s comments came at a gathering of farmers, primarily fromuttarpradesh,inthenational capital. Besides Yadav, leaders from the NCP, JD(S) and the RLD took part in the joint rally to highlight the issue of farmers’ distress and seek loan waiver for them.
Underlining the need for loan waiver for farmers affected by the cash crunch, Yadav said they have been left in the lurch “while loans of industrialists have been waived off”.
Addressing the gathering, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda of the JDS said, “The demonetisation decision helped the rich and the affluent. It did not benefit the poor and the farmer — it is against them. You are being misguided in the name of unearthing black money through this decision.”
While NCP chief Sharad Pawar gave the slogan of “Jai Hind Jai Kisan” and emphasised the significance of the ideology of former Prime Minister Charan Singh, the late PM’S son, RLD chief Ajit Singh, said that the Central government should waive farmers’ loans.
Taking on PM Narendra Modi, Deve Gowda said, “The Prime Minister recently told Jan Dhan account holders not to return money deposited into their accounts by others. We have also run governments and hence understand this: Please do not make misleading statements. The Prime Minister said that he has taken the demonetisation decision to end corruption continuing for the last 70 years. I want to tell him that socialist parties have also run governments in the country and they have given clean governance.”
Leaders from the four parties are scheduled to share the dais at another event to mark the birth anniversary Charan Singh on December 23 in Muzaffarnagar.