Apr 06, 2025 08:32 AM IST
This time, he has accused them of deliberately defaulting on crop loans, in the hope of benefitting from a farm loan waiver, and then lavishing the money thus saved on functions such as weddings and engagements
MUMBAI: Agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, who has courted controversy several times in the last four months, has trained his guns on the state’s farmers once more. This time, he has accused them of deliberately defaulting on crop loans, in the hope of benefitting from a farm loan waiver, and then lavishing the money thus saved on functions such as weddings and engagements.
Speaking to farmers on Saturday, Kokate remarked, “You people take crop loans and then default on them for 5 to 10 years, so that the loans would be waived. Farmers do not invest money in their farms. The state government gives you financial assistance for everything, from drip irrigation to ponds, pipelines etc.”
After video footage of Kokate’s remarks went viral online on Saturday, the minister was slammed by the opposition, who taunted him over his conviction in a case relating to securing an apartment in a government quota by presenting forged documents.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said, “Kokate should know that spending money of crop loans on weddings is not easy, unlike grabbing a flat in the government quota by submitting fake income proof.”
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “Kokate should be sacked from the cabinet for his insensitive remarks. Earlier too he compared farmers with beggars over the Re 1 crop insurance scheme.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut remarked, “Kokate has become the Kunal Kamra of the agricultural sector. He should refrain from making controversial statements.”
Meanwhile, state BJP president and revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the government will apologise to farmers for Kokate’s remarks even as the minister did a U-turn. Claiming he has been misunderstood and was speaking to a farmer friend in a lighter vein, Kokate said, “I didn’t say there would not be a farm loan waiver. In fact, I was underlining the need of capital investment in the agriculture sector.”
