Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Saturday triggered a controversy when he termed the nationwide protests by farmers a publicity stunt to hog limelight.
Addressing a news conference in Patna on completion of four years of Modi government, Singh said farmers were protesting at various places in the country to come in the media. He called it a gimmick or stunt of small groups of farmers' to attract media attention.
Saturday was the second day of the 10-day 'Gaon bandh' farmers' agitation in several states including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, to press for multiple demands relating to loan waivers and minimum support price for agricultural produce and milk etc.
"See it is true that some unique (anokha) things need to be done to come in the media. So definitely they must be doing some such things. There are 12-14 crore farmers in our country, so it is common that any farmer related organisation will have to say 500, 1,000 or 2,000, 40,000, 50,000 members. It is known that they need to do some unique things to remain in the media. This is natural," he said, in response to a query related to ongoing farmers' strike in the nation.
He said the protests were by a handful of farmers' organisations and were not significant. On a query related to condition of farmers and suicide cases in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Singh said, "The Shivraj Singh government is one which has done the maximum work for the welfare of farmers in comparison to other states."
Singh, BJP MP from Purvi Champaran, claimed the agriculture sector had seen unprecedented growth under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi in the last four years and was now focusing on reducing the cost of production of farmers.
The agriculture minister has come under attack for his "insensitive remark" and the Opposition parties in Bihar sought his apology as well as Singh's resignation over it. Instead of assurance to look into the demands of farmers, he is mocking them and calling their protests a gimmick, RJD leaders said. "Not farmers, but Singh is giving such statements to remain in the media," former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said and demanded Singh's dismissal from the Union cabinet of ministers.
