Yechury, Kejriwal attack Naidu for comment on farmers

New Delhi: Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today came under attack from the Aam Aadmi Party and the CPI (M) for his comment that seeking loan waivers had become a “fashion”.

While AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said the comment exposed his bias towards the rich, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury asked if the government would now term farmer suicides “fashionable”.

“Will this govt now say that Farmer suicides are also fashionable? We need to do more than loan waivers for our farmers, not mock at them. (sic),” Yechury tweeted.

Kejriwal was equally scathing.

“You don’t see a fashion in it when you waive loans of the rich. But when it comes to waiving farmers’ loans, you see it as a fashion. This is not right. You waive a particular individual’s loan, but not that of crores of farmers. This shows the kind of politics you engage in,” he told reporters.

Urban Development Minister Naidu had said at an event in Mumbai today that seeking loan waivers had become a “fashion” now but it was not the final solution and should be considered in extreme situations.

–PTI