Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the Congress party had placed the burden of interest on farmers but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would remove it.
Addressing a Kisan Sammelan in Ujjain, Chouhan said that former Chief Minister Kamal Nath had taken Rs 22 crore from Fasal Bima Yojana premium.
"Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath call us 'anti-farmers'. I myself am a farmer. They placed the burden of interest on the heads of farmers. We, the BJP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, will remove this burden from their heads," the CM said.
"Kamal Nath and his fellow leaders had promised that farmer debt would be cancelled. The situation became so bad that defaulters became a regular defaulter. We opened old files and found that Kamal Nath had grabbed Rs 22 crore from the Fasal Bima Yojana premium. Over 3,100 crore farmers did not get the benefit of the Yojana," he said.
The Chief Minister announced that on December 18, Rs 1,600 crore would be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers of the state.
He also said that parties were shedding crocodile tears over the farm bills and using farmers after several failed elections.
"The parties that are shedding crocodile tears over the farm bills cannot take on Modiji on the ground. They are losing elections one by one. They don't have anything left and now they have put guns on the shoulder of farmers. These people don't even know if onions grow above or below the ground," he said.
"Modiji has allowed farmers to sell anywhere, inside or outside the mandi. He has given farmers this freedom and right. I am giving you the assurance that mandis in Madhya Pradesh will not close. We will improve the mandis with all facilities but it will be up to the farmer if they want to sell in mandis or anywhere else," he said.
He further asked the audience if they thought the farm laws were good or bad. In reply, several people rose from their seats with hands raised in affirmation.
( With inputs from ANI )
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