Published On : Tue, Sep 19th, 2017

Yawatmal family demands FIR against Modi after farmer names him in suicide note

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Modi Government, Loan Waiver
Yavatmal/Nagpur: Family members of Prakash Prabhakar Mangavkar, a farmer who committed suicide in Ghatanji Tehsil of Yavatmal district last week have demanded that an FIR be filed against the Prime Minister since he had mentioned Modi in his suicide note.

Mangavkar from Titavi village in Ghatanji tehsil, killed himself on September 16. He had reportedly written the words “Modi Sarkar” and “karjasathi atmahatya (suicide for debt)” on two leaves.

He is survived by his wife and two children. His devastated family demanded that that P.M. Modi be booked for abatement to suicide when Congress leader Shivajirao Moghe visited them on Monday.

The family members told a local news channel that Prakashrao was “fed up” by the difficulties in filling the online application for the government’s loan waiver. Tragically this same man had been very happy when Modi came to power.

“He was jubilant when Modi became the Prime Minister. He would say that now there is a leader who will stand up for farmers. But nothing happened, and he was feeling betrayed. Had Modiji acted on his promises, we would not have lost our head of the family,” they said.

Moghe, the Congress leader who visited the family, told newspaper Hindu:

“Their demand is absolutely correct. When farmers committed suicide during our reign, Devendra Fadnavis would demand an FIR against our government. Now that a farmer has himself written the PM’s name in a suicide note, there should be an FIR against him. During the 2014 election campaign, the PM made 18 promises to farmers in Yavatmal. The farmers believed him, and voted for the BJP. Not a single promise has been fulfilled by the PM in the last three years.”

Nana Patole, the BJP MP from Gondia-Bhandara, who was in the news recently for publicly complaining that Modi does not let MPs talk during meetings – he later tried to back track -also visited Mangavkar’s family on Monday.

He opined“The government is taking every effort to stop farmers’ suicides. It is true that the online application process is complicated. I will brief the PM and the CM about this incident, as the people are now talking about booking the Prime Minister [for the suicide].”

Another former farmers’ leader Kishor Tiwari, who earlier used to be very vociferous about farmer suicides in Vidarbha, but has fallen silent since being appointed head of the State government’s panel on farmers’ distress, has however tried to divert the issue.

“Mangavkar was under stress as his mini truck had hit a person and there was a complaint against him. The farmer’s loan waiver application had been approved.” Said Tiwari. “But it’s true that he wrote Mr. Modi’s name on a leaf.”

Will this suicide note be taken seriously?

Yavatmal farmers are waiting and watching.

The never ending woes of Yawatmal farmers

Suicides in Yavatmal and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra have been the highest for the last 3 years at least , despite Krishi Samruddhi Yojana and Baliraja Chetana Yojana schemes to counsel farmers to reduce the number of deaths there.

Further, about 40% of suicides were termed ‘ineligible’ by the district administrations, thus denying the government help to the agrarian families.