Farmer suicide
[Representational image]Reuters file photo

In a move that can cost the BJP dearly in Uttar Pradesh – and especially in the farming belt – BJP leader Rameshwar Sharma has claimed that suicides were committed by "subsidy licking" farmers or those who depended solely on subsidy and that by committing suicide, these farmers had given agriculture a bad name.

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What was said

It has emerged that Rameshwar Sharma, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, was speaking at a public meeting when he said that farmers who committed suicide were less of farmers and more of "subsidy lickers" – his reference being to those farmers taking heavy advantage of the farm subsidies provided by the government.

He went on to add: "A real farmer never commits suicide. Those who made money using illegal ways, borrowed money and consumed alcohol have defamed the farmer community." This, even as political parties – including the BJP – are trying hard to woo the farmers among the electorate in UP.

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He later tried to justify his statement by saying: "A real farmer never commits suicide. The ones who gave agriculture a bad name [by committing suicide] were those who had black money, took loans and then consumed alcohol."

How it can harm the BJP

One thing the BJP has been promising in almost all its election rallies in UP is farm loan waiver, given how the burden of these loans often drive farmers to suicide after one or two seasons of crop failure. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has also introduced a number of farm reforms, and all in an effort to appear poor-friendly and farmer-friendly.

However, all those efforts may go in vain because of statements like these. As Congress leader Pankaj Chaturvedi put it: "He [Rameshwar Sharma] should keep control on what he says. Using such words for dying farmers is shameful."

It may be noted that the Congress, too, has been lobbying for more subsidies and loan waivers for farmers in the run-up to the Assembly elections this year. They will in all likelihood jump at this opportunity to paint the BJP in poor light.

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