In a vulgar display of insensitivity to farmers’ plights, BJP MP from Maharashtra Gopal Shetty says farmers’ suicides have become a “fashion” and “trend”, attributing the rising competition between state governments to pay compensation for farmers’ suicides as the reason for farmers to end their lives. since January this year, 124 farmers have committed suicides in Maharashtra alone.
“Not all farmers’ suicides happen due to unemployment and starvation. A fashion is going on. A trend is on,” the North Mumbai MP said during an event in Borivili, adding: “If Maharashtra government is giving five lakh rupees as compensation, then some other government in neighbouring state is giving seven lakh.”
His comments comes at a time when there is a rising controversy over the arrest of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges and a concerted efforts by party sympathisers on social media to divert attention from failures of the NDA government ahead of the Budget session in Parliament.
Maharashtra is undergoing an agrarian crisis, and thousands of farmers are committing suicides due to debt and crop failure.
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