Sachin Pilot accuses Centre of discrimination against MP, Maharashtra farmers

Mumbai city news: Congress leader targets polices by Narendra Modi government, lashes out at BJP ally Shiv Sena

Drawing a parallel to the loan waiver offered by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader and former union minister Sachin Pilot accused the Narendra Modi government of discrimination towards the farmers from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and other states. He held the failed policies of the state and the Centre responsible for the plight of the farmers in the country.

Congress leader and former union minister Sachin Pilot . (HT file)

Pilot, while talking to the journalists in Mumbai on Friday, said the BJP announced a loan waiver in UP only to garner votes. He added that the loan waiver announced by the Manmohan Singh government in 2008 was without keeping an eye on the vote bank and was issued to ensure maximum benefits reached the farmers.

Pilot alleged that the ruling party was playing politics at the cost of farmers’ lives. He said that the government was running away from the real issues of farmers’ suicides, Naxal attacks, unemployment and has been shifting the focus on non-issues such as anti-romeo squads and ghar wapasi, among others. Pilot also questioned why Modi or the union agriculture minister Radhe Mohan Singh did not condemn the killing of the farmers in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress leader also alleged that the BJP government at the Centre had spent Rs22,00 crore on publicity and advertisement to highlight its achievements of the past three years. “The government, which has been busy gathering credit for the schemes originally initiated by our government, has failed in curbing deaths of innocent people in the country,” Pilot added.

Pilot also took a dig at Shiv Sena for being critical of the government policies in the state but not opting out of power. “The Sena is hungry of power and hence not been able to take a stern stand despite differences with the BJP on various issues,” he added.

Pilot also said that the opposition parties at the national level are working to collate an united front against BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. All the parties have started realizing the need to present a formidable opposition in the next general election, Pilot said.