Karnataka Minister Shivanand Patil triggered a controversy with his “farmers wish for a drought year” remark while addressing a public function in Belagavi.
The minister claimed that farmers wish for a drought year after year to get their loans waived. Patil went on to say that since farmers were getting everything for free including water, electricity, seeds and fertilizers, they shouldn’t expect the government to help them all the time.
“Krishna river water is free, electricity is free. Chief Ministers have given seeds and fertilizer free. Farmers have just one wish, there should be one drought after another so that their loan gets waived. Even if you don’t want to, there will be drought every 3-4 years. Siddaramaiah has waived off interest for the medium-term loan. Other chief ministers have also waived loans. But the government can only help when we are in trouble, they can’t help all the time,” said Shivanand Patil, Minister for Sugar.
Karnataka is witnessing one of the worst droughts in its history with 223 of 236 taluks being declared drought-hit.
This is not the first time that the minister sparked a row with his statement regarding the agrarian crisis. Earlier in the year, he claimed farmer suicides increased after the government announced a hike in the ex gratia given in such cases.
The BJP tried to corner the Siddaramaiah government on the issue alleging that the minister’s comment reflects the state government’s attitude towards the farmers.
“The farmers offer pooja to nature, a Minister making such a statement is unfortunate. He must not continue as Minister. This is a condemnable statement. If Congress has any respect for the farmers then they should have immediately sacked him,” said BJP leader CN Ashwathnarayan.
The Congress, on the other hand, tried to defend the minister claiming he belongs to a farmer background himself.
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