Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar stoked a controversy with insensitive remarks that farmers who commit suicide are “cowards” and “criminals”, drawing severe flak from the Opposition with Rahul Gandhi raking it up in Parliament on Wednesday.
“Committing suicide is a crime, according to Indian law. Any person who commits suicide escapes from his responsibilities and leaves the burden on his wife and innocent children and such people are cowards,” Dhankar, who earlier headed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kisan Cell, said on Tuesday.
Asked about compensation to kin of farmers who committed suicide, the minister said, “An institution like the government cannot stand behind cowards (those committing suicides) and cannot be with a criminal.”
The Congress slammed the minister’s insensitive remarks and demanded that he be sacked. The issue also echoed in Parliament with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi citing it to attack the ruling BJP.
“Your minister in Haryana now says that farmers who commit suicide are cowards. You did not help them when their crops were affected by hailstorm, the farmers bore it. You
ended their bonus, they bore it. You did not give them fertilisers, they were lathicharged, but they bore it and now their produce is lying in the markets,” Gandhi said in Lok Sabha.
Attacking the Manohar Lal Khattar government, Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar said, “This shows the insensitive mindset of the BJP government towards the farmers. Will the Khattar government wake up from its deep slumber or will it wait till more farmers end their lives?”
Slamming the minister’s remarks, Tanwar said, “A farmer is not coward, but those who are sitting in the government and escape from responsibility are the biggest cowards.”
However, Dhankar on Wednesday said the state government is doing its best to help the farmers and remained unrepentant about his remarks.
“I stand by my previous statement,” the minister said, adding, “Drama is taking place ‘suicide, suicide’. I am doing my best to help the farmers.... I have been working with farmers for the past 10 years. There are (crop) failures but committing suicide is not a solution. Facilities should be there so that they can restart from zero. We are with the farmers.... A drama happened in Delhi. Everyone saw it. That should not happen,” he said.
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