Modi has no time to meet distraught farmers: Kapil Sibal

MUMBAI: Raising t he i ssue of f ar mer suicides and the drought in Maharashtra, the Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time to celebrate

MUMBAI: Raising t he i ssue of f ar mer suicides and the drought in Maharashtra, the Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time to celebrate two years in office but no time to visit the drought-affected areas of Maharashtra.

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Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was in Mumbai, questioned the BJP government’s policy on farmers while referring to the rising number of far mer suicides from Vidarbha and Marathwada.

Around 3,228 farmers in the state have committed suicide this year alone, which is the highest number in recent years.

Narendra Modi is busy celebrating two years in office. He has no time to meet distraught farmers and understand their plight, former union minister for law and telecom minister Sibal said.

He was refer ring to t he severe drought situation that has affected 29,610 villages of the state which comes to more than 70% of the total number of villages in Maharashtra.

“Modiji can spend five hours to celebrate the second anniversary of the government in Delhi and can splurge money on the celebrations but can’t give that amount to farmers as financial help,” Sibal said.

“The Congress still demands loans for farmers to be waived off as they are going through difficult times. We would have given a loan waiver to them if we were in the government,” Sibal said.