After the broken promises of loan-waivers consumed lives in Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh, the neighbouring state of Rajasthan has been facing similar farmer suicides on account of dubious promises of farm loan waiver made by the Congress-ruled government.
On Sunday, a 45-year-old farmer ended his life at Thakri village in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district on Sunday, leaving behind a farewell video and a two-page note accusing the Ashok Gehlot government of failing to deliver its pre-poll promise of waiving bank loans.
Sohan Lal, a farmer, recorded a video on Sunday morning and uploaded it on social media before consuming poison. He was soon taken to a nearby government hospital from where he was referred to Sriganganagar. However, he died while being taken to the other hospital.
In his suicide note, Sohan Lal in an emotional message, named Gehlot and Pilot, alleging that he was forced to take the drastic step as the Congress government in Rajasthan did not keep its promise of waiving off bank loans to farmers.
“I am going to end my life today. Nobody is at fault in this. (Ashok) Gehlot and (Deputy Chief Minister) Sachin Pilot are responsible for my death. They had made a statement that they will waive off our loans within 10 days… What has happened to their promise? It is time to bow down the government today.”
Sohan Lal Meghwal also reportedly requested his fellow-farmers to not conduct his last rites until they are freed of their debts.
According to local officials, Sohan Lal had taken loans Rs.3 lakh from Oriental Bank of Commerce and the Syndicate Bank for which he was regularly paying interest. However, he was left out of the Rajasthan government’s loan waiver scheme as covered only loans of up to Rs. 2 lakh issued by cooperative banks.
Rahul Gandhi led Congress which came to power in various states promising several sops of loan waivers, high MSP but failed to deliver on its promises. The false promise of loan-waiver by the Congress party has now taken lives in Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
After failing to waive-off farm loans in the Rajasthan, the Congress had come up with a way to blame the previous BJP regime for leaving the state in massive debt. Chief Minister Gehlot had said that the farm loan waiver involving cooperative banks would amount to Rs 18,000 crore at a time when the state was caught in debt of Rs 3 lakh crore left by the former BJP government.
In addition to this, a farm loan waiver scam appeared to be brewing in the state of Rajasthan after non-existent names appeared on the list surfaced in Rajasthan after the Congress government initiated the loan waiver scheme. Scores of names appeared in the list of beneficiaries for the farm loan waiver scheme who had no loans against their names raising suspicion on the intention of the farm loan waiver scheme by the Congress government.
