A day after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel criticised farm loan waivers, the kind the new Uttar Pradesh government announced on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Kisan Morcha chief on Friday demanded that Mahrashtra and Tamil Nadu governments should also write off loans to provide "immediate" relief to farmers of their states.
Virendra Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, had helped the party draft its manifesto for the UP assembly polls. "The governments of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu should take a decision like the UP government to provide immediate solution to distress among farmers and to put a stop to farmers ending their lives," he said.
Maharashtra has a BJP-led government. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently told Maharashtra assembly that the state government didn't have requisite funds to write off farm debts, and had sought help from the Centre. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, has ruled out any central assistance for loan waiver.
BJP chief Amit Shah had appointed Singh the head of the party's Kisan Morcha, or farmers' cell, in December. Since then, Singh has emerged as the party's voice on agrarian issues, even defending demonetisation as farmer friendly.
Singh's public statements critical of the RBI governor are significant in the context of the Narendra Modi government and BJP conscious of their pro-poor image. The government and the party have assiduously countered any perceptions to the contrary ever since the Modi government was termed 'suit boot ki sarkar', a government of and for moneybags, in early 2015.
While none in the council of ministers could have been seen to criticise the RBI governor, Singh not being part of the government has no such limitation.
As for the next few pro-farmer steps by Yogi Adityanath-led UP government, Singh said interest free loans will be provided to farmers in the state. Small farmers will be subsidised up to 90 per cent to purchase milch cattle and use of solar powered irrigation pumps will be encouraged to help single crop land to become double crop.
He said that under the PM's Gram Sadak Yojana, more roads between fields and villages will be constructed, and under Deen Dayal Gram Jyoti Yojana dedicated power supply will be provided for irrigation.
On the comments by the RBI Governor, Singh said the banking sector is driven by its bottom-line and neglects the human aspect. "The RBI governor's statement reflects that, but the government needs to be sensitive to the needs of the people," Singh, a third term parliamentarian, said.
Singh said farm loan waiver might not solve long term problems in the agrarian sector but was a necessary temporary solution. He said the record of recovery of bank loans from farmers, and from villages in general, was far better than that from big business.
On Thursday, RBI Governor Patel said that loan waivers undermined honest credit culture and impacted credit discipline. "In other words, waivers engender a moral hazard," Patel said, after announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2017-18. On Tuesday, the UP government had announced loan waiver for small and marginal farmers to the tune of Rs 36,000 crore.
Singh said he has written to senior ministers in the government to constitute an inter-ministerial group to look at the agrarian sector for greater unity of purpose in decision making for the sector. He said he will also protest zero duty on sugar imports, as decision would harm sugarcane farmers.
Singh had shot to fame in 1998 when he defeated Samajwadi Party candidate, and former dacoit, Phoolan Devi from the Mirzapur seat in the Lok Sabha polls that year. In 1989, Singh was one of the groups who had protested against senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani. Then, Jethmalani had sat on a strike outside former PM Chandra Shekhar's residence and asked him not to contest against V P Singh for the post of prime minister.