The Karnataka man of the match DK Shivakumar issued a statement saying that the BJP cannot “waste money” and the Karnataka won’t work according to the whims of the BJP when it comes to governance. This was in response to BJP calling a state bandh (strike) in Karnataka if the new government fails to deliver on its promise on waiving off farmer loans as they had promised in their pre-poll manifesto.
They cannot waste public money, if a law & order problem in created it’ll be because of them. They cannot force & blackmail us, we are a responsible govt & cannot act to wishes of BJP: DK Shivakumar, Cong on BJP’s state-wide bandh on May 28, if CM doesn’t waive off farmer loans, pic.twitter.com/AWaRhiNVUs
— ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018
This pussyfooting on farm loan waiver issue is a hilarious u-turn on the part of the Congress party since its President and Prime Ministerial candidate has repeatedly targeted the Narendra Modi led BJP government about the issue of farm loan waiver. In fact, in his quest to undermine the prime minister, he had even lied and conflated the meaning of ‘loan waiver’ and ‘loan write off’.
Just a few days ago on 17th May 2018, Rahul Gandhi had again lied and asserted that if “loans worth 2.5 Lakh crores owned by 15 people can be foregone, the loan of all farmers of India can be waived”. Of course, he again lied and implied that the Modi government is “waiving off” loans of Industrialists when in actuality, write off doesn’t mean the loans won’t be recovered and the Modi government has nothing to do with it.
If loans worth 2.5 lakh crores owed by 15 people can be foregone, the loan of all farmers of India can be waived. : Congress President @RahulGandhi #बदलेगा_छत्तीसगढ़ pic.twitter.com/3dho0BUWro
— Congress (@INCIndia) May 17, 2018
These statements were also made on the same day when Rahul Gandhi was addressing the Jungle Satyagraha Adivasi Rally in Bilaspur.
Last year, the BJP had written off 2.5 lakh crore worth of bad loans of the richest people of India but, they refused to write off farmers’ loans. : Congress President @RahulGandhi #बदलेगा_छत्तीसगढ़
— Congress (@INCIndia) May 17, 2018
Rahul Gandhi had also hurled allegations of the Central Government not pitching in for farm loan waiver in Karnataka, another lie we had comprehensively debunked.
On 12th February 2018, Rahul said he had met Modi at his office and requested him to waive farmers’ loans. “Modi did not utter a word. Then I asked CM Siddaramaiah and Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh if they can waive farm loans in their states. Within no time, they did it. Such is the commitment of the Congress towards farmers.”
The promise to waive off farmer loans has been repeated by Rahul Gandhi umpteen times while campaigning in Karnataka before the state went for polls. On 20th March 2018, during his third visit to Karnataka, he had assailed PM Modi and FM Jaitley for not forming a policy for farmer loan waiver. On 4th May 2018, Rahul Gandhi had said, “When the current NDA government is waiving loans of big business magnates, it will not be difficult to waive loans of poor farmers who are the ‘annadatas'”.
Congress’ newly minted allies and the current Chief Minister of Karnataka had also promised farm loan waiver in their Karnataka manifesto. Kumaraswamy, after being sworn in as the Chief Minister reiterated his commitment to waiving off farm loans.
Then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also repeatedly spoken of Farm loan waiver.
Now about PM’s insensitivity towards farmers
1. I asked for farm loan waiver. PM refused
2. I asked for intervention to solve Mahadayi issue. PM refused.
3. I asked for increase in Disaster Relief Fund as Karnataka gets 1750 Cr. & Maharashtra gets 8000 Cr. No reply from PM
6/6— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 2, 2018
Instead of taking up public interest issues like bank loan waiver, Mahadayi, GST, @bjp4karnataka is harping on non-issues #BJPDoubleSpeak
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) October 22, 2017
However, it seems like Congress is now getting a taste of its own medicine. Congress and its President, Rahul Gandhi had demanded maggi noodles instant solutions from the Modi government as far as farm loan waiver was concerned and resorted to the exact same pressure tactics that the Karnataka BJP seems to be resorting to now.
