Madhya Pradesh: Congress promises to bring back farm loan waiver scheme if returns to power

Bhopal: The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has promised that if it is voted to power in the state assembly polls next year, it would reintroduce the farm loan waiver scheme that it had brought after forming a government in 2018. The party's state unit president and former chief minister Kamal Nath made this announcement last evening when he also said that the farm loan of every farmer in the state would have been cleared by now if his government was at the helm. Ahead of the last assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to implement a farm loan waiver scheme in the state if the party came to power.

The party delivered on its promise as Kamal Nath signed the file for waiving loans of up to ₹ 2 lakh soon after taking oath as the chief minister in December 2018. It is widely believed that the grand old party's promise of farm loan waiver was one of the major factors behind its victory.

Sharing the order of the loan waiver scheme issued on December 17, 2018, the day he took oath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Nath said in a tweet, "On this day, the order for loan waiver of the farmers of the state was issued. Had the democratically elected Congress government been in power now, the loan of each and every farmer of the state would have been waived by now."

Mr Nath assured that the loan of farmers would be waived if Congress returns to power in the state.

"There is nothing to worry about. As soon as the Congress government is formed next year, this order will be issued again and the loan of each and every farmer brother will be waived," he said in another tweet.

Reacting to Nath's tweets, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) government in the state, termed this announcement as "cheating".

"Not a single farmer got the benefit of farm loan waiver of up to ₹ 2 lakh as stated in the order (posted by Nath). This is cheating. This tweet is rubbing salt into the wounds of farmers, who have become defaulters due to this promise," Mr Mishra said.

The BJP, which had been in power in the state since 2003, lost the 2018 Assembly polls. The Congress came to power with the help of Independents and Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators, but the Kamal Nath-led government collapsed 15 months later in March 2020 following a rebellion by nearly two dozen MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia. After that, Mr Chouhan became the chief minister for the fourth time.