Kamal Nath hits back at Shivraj, says he has no right to talk about farm loan waiver

A day after former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged that the Congress government in the state was cheating the farmers, his successor Kamal Nath hit back saying the former does not have any right to talk on the issue.

A tweet, posted in Hindi from the handle of ‘Office of Kamal Nath’ today (December 21), retorted to Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s accusations. However, it did not name the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

It said, “Those who mocked the issue of farm loan waiver and kept their eyes shut on matters related to farmers’ interest during their tenure are talking about waking up today. They kept sleeping when they were supposed to remain awake. And now when the people have made them sit at home, they are talking about keeping awake. They do not have any right to talk about loan waiver.”

Shivraj Singh Chouhan had come down heavily on the Kamal Nath government for, what he said, cheating the farmers of his state. He too had not named his successor.

In a tweet, also posted in Hindi yesterday, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said, “An immense injustice is being done to the farmers of my state by imposing a time-barrier of March 31, 2018 and announcing an incomplete loan waiver. The Congress should keep away from deceit.”

Shivraj Singh Chouhan had gone on to state that he was alert and was keeping a vigilant eye on the actions of the Kamal Nath government. “But they should realise that I have not fallen asleep. I am awake and my keen eyes are only on them,” he said.

Today, the Karnataka unit of the BJP also hit out at the Congress-JDS alliance government over the farmers’ loan waiver issue. It accused the HD Kumaraswamy government of using the farmers as tools for their politics.

In a tweet, the Karnataka BJP said, “Your government in Karnataka had promised to waive off farmer loans in 10 days but even after six months and 377 farmer suicides, farmer loans have not been waived.”

The Karnataka BJP further said, “Stop playing with the lives and livelihood of farmers. You gave them false hope, used them as mere tools for your politics.”

Its tweet came in reply to Rahul Gandhi’s post after the Congress governments, soon after coming to power after the recently-held assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, announced farm loan waiver in their respective states.

On December 19, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted: “It’s done! Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have waived farm loans. We asked for 10 days. We did it in two.”

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised farm loan waiver during campaigning for Karnataka elections earlier this year and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh held recently.

A war of words has now started over the farmers’ loan waiver issue.