Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said in Beed on Wednesday that the Centre’s crop insurance scheme was “as big a scam” as the Rafale fighter jet deal.
He said that talks of an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were meaningless at a time when farmers in the State were in crisis, terming the government’s promises of farm loan waiver as “utterly false”.
Addressing farmers at a rally, Mr. Thackeray asked how many people had received benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna after paying instalments to insurance firms. “People have got cheques for ₹2, ₹5, ₹50, ₹100,” he said.
“Allegations are being made that there is a scam of thousands of crores in the crop insurance scheme… Who should we question? There is someone called Sainath, who is an expert on the subject, who has written a book. He has said the crop insurance scam is as big a scam as Rafale,” Mr. Thackeray said. The Sena chief was on a tour of Marathwada, where he distributed 100 trucks of fodder and essential supplies to drought-hit farmers from Beed, Jalna and other districts.
He said the Sena was not interested in power or merely winning elections, but in resolving the problems of farmers. “The BJP government has only issued farmers with loan waiver certificates, but not actually waived any debts. But when I ask the BJP what is the basis of these false figures of debt waiver, then I am criticised for being against the government,” Mr. Thackeray said.
Mr. Thackeray criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated a clutch of infrastructure projects in Solapur on Wednesday, for his frequent foreign trips. “You [Mr. Modi] may click pictures with [U.S. President] Donald Trump and make big declarations about mega projects… But I urge you to come to Marathwada and see the plight of drought-hit farmers,” said Mr. Thackeray.
“I am criticised by my detractors for not understanding farming…that may be so, but I can see the tears in the eyes of farmers and the ineffectual drought surveys carried out by Central teams,” Mr. Thackeray said.
“Mr. Modi said in Solapur that he would come to hand over keys to the poor after their affordable homes were built. But does one really get cheap houses merely by making tall statements?” Mr. Thackeray asked.
(With PTI inputs)