Launching a scathing attack on BJP Government of Uttarakhand from New Delhi, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh has said that for the first time in history of Uttarakhand, as many as 17 farmers have committed suicide during the BJP rule in the State.

He said that like other slogans, the promise of doubling the income of farmers has also proved to be a mere rhetoric in Uttarakhand. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Garima Dasauni informed that the PCC president addressed a joint Press conference with the PCC president of Haryana Kumari Selja at AICC headquarter on Wednesday on the issue of farmer agitation.

Singh said that the BJP in the run up to the Assembly election of 2017 had promised that it would waive off the loan of farmers when it would come to power but in the last four years it has not fulfilled its promise.

He said that when the issue of suicide of farmers was brought before the CM he refused to provide compensation to the families. Referring to the Kisan Samman Nidhi as a cruel joke on farmers, Singh said that the Union Government is providing a meager `16 a day to the farmers and in this too major irregularities have surfaced.

He said that in Laksar in Haridwar district irregularities worth `15 lakh have been detected and here 185 fake beneficiaries were found in two villages.

Criticising the Union Government for showing an apathetic attitude towards the agitating farmers who are sitting in open from more than a month in severe cold condition, Pritam Singh said that the Narendra Modi Government has made the agitation as an issue of its false pride.

He said that it appears that the Modi Government has gone into a secret understanding with some capitalists.

The PCC president said that the three draconian farm laws are not only against farmers but they are anti people too.

He said that considering the obstinate attitude adopted by the Union Government, the farmers’ agitation can become protracted. Kumari Shelja said that the Congress party is standing firmly with the famers.

The vice-president of Uttarakhand Congress Aryendra Sharma, general secretary organisation Vijay Saraswat and Shilpi Arora were present on the occasion.