Congress questions lavish spend for Amit Shah rally at BKC

Mumbai: The Congress on Thursday said the preparations for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah’s rally at Bandra Kurla Complex on Friday are like rubbing salt into the farmers’ wound, who have not got the loan waiver benefits.

Party spokesperson Sachin Sawant raised questions over the deletion of almost 20 lakh farmers from the list of beneficiaries of the loan waiver scheme. He alleged that the government has brought down the list from 89 lakh farmers to 40 lakh. The party sought the government’s clarification on minimising the list of farmers.

“On June 24, 2017, the government announced loan waiver to 89 lakh farmers. But it laid down such conditions that only 77 lakh could apply. Of this, the State approved only 69 lakh,” said Mr. Sawant.

He said the government then came up with a green list of farmers. “This green list was meant for the clearance of proposal. There were 47,46,222 farmers in the green list in January and ₹23,102 crore was allocated for them. But by April 3, one lakh farmers was again removed and the monetary allocation was down by almost ₹5,000 crore.”

Mr. Sawant claimed of 46 lakh farmers finalised in the green list, the government reduced 66,023 farmers in one time settlement scheme.

“So now there are only 40-45 lakh farmers. This proved that this is no longer the country’s biggest loan waiver, and the State has failed to keep its word,” said Mr. Sawant. “The people want to know the reason behind the BJP’s celebration and the source of money. The farmers are not happy; petrol prices are high; students are not happy; and the price rise has put consumers in trouble. But the BJP is busy in holding rallies,” said Mr. Sawant.