Loan waivers most cruel joke, says PM Narendra Modi

The government had announced a massive Rs 44,000 crore loan waiver scheme in July but its implementation has been tardy, drawing criticism from the BJP which is cooling its heels in the opposition despite emerging as the single largest party after assembly polls.

Tearing into the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused it of being “steeped” in arrogance and interested only in “development-free corruption”.

Targeting the ruling coalition over its contradictions and power struggle, Modi said it seemed as if they were in power “only to play musical chair”, and mocked its much vaunted loan waiver scheme as one of the “most cruel jokes” on farmers. (PTI File Photo)

Targeting the ruling coalition over its contradictions and power struggle, Modi said it seemed as if they were in power “only to play musical chair”, and mocked its much vaunted loan waiver scheme as one of the “most cruel jokes” on farmers.

Targeting the state government over its much touted loan waiver scheme, he said, “What they have done in the name of loan waiver will go down in history as one of the most cruel jokes on farmers. After six months in power, news reports say the government could only benefit a handful of farmers.” The government had announced a massive Rs 44,000 crore loan waiver scheme in July but its implementation has been tardy, drawing criticism from the BJP which is cooling its heels in the opposition despite emerging as the single largest party after assembly polls.

“People want corruption-free government, but Karnataka government wants development-free corruption,” Modi told BJP’s booth-level workers of the state, while mounting a trenchant attack on the ruling dispensation.

The state government had admitted in the recently concluded assembly session that only about 800 farmers had benefited from the scheme.