Some of the 418 farmers who committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore in the last three years took the extreme step because they were possessed by ghosts.
This is the reply of the State Government given in the Assembly on Wednesday. The Government, however, made it clear that this was as per the account of the relatives of the deceased.
The Congress created din over this irresponsible and insensitive reply of the Minister in the House.
The Home Minister of the State, Bhupendra Singh, in reply to Congress member Shailendra Patel's query informed the Assembly Wednesday that most of the farmers' suicides are not because of ruined crops and attributed them due to ghosts.
Singh, replying to Opposition Congress' legislator Shailendra Patel over increasing suicides by the farmers in the State, told the House that many deaths have taken place due to ghosts.
Notably, over 400 deaths have been reported in Sehore district, bordering the State Capital, during the past two and a half years.
Patel in his question over the issue wished to know the exact figures of the farmer suicides in the district. "I am amazed to know that the Minister has held ghosts and bad souls responsible for some of the deaths. This is a childish reason expressed by the responsible seat and this is cruel joke with the farming community of the State. This also exposes the real BJP," Patel said to this correspondent outside the Assembly.
Patel asked can you believe that the Home Minister of the State while replying over the serious and sensitive issue of farmer suicides would give childish reply and would hold black magic, ghosts and bad souls responsible for it. "When I asked the Minister that whether the State Government also believes in his theory and on existence of ghosts and superstitions he remained silent in the House," Patel said.
"The Home Minister said that it is not the State Government that has said that deaths have taken place due to ghosts. Whenever someone dies unnaturally then statements of deceased's family are taken and whatever they have said is being repeated by us in our reply and the State Government does not believe in superstitions."
The Opposition dissatisfied over the Minister's reply created ruckus in the House and the Speaker adjourned the House for some time.
The reply by the Minister even as the Chief Minister often boasts of being a farmer, is a cruel joke on the farming community of the State, Patel said.