Kolkata: The almost daily reports of farmer suicides are the latest political flashpoint in West Bengal. While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says the suicides are not linked to farm debtsboth the opposition and estranged ally Congress are attacking her government for the deaths. According to the Congress, whose ties with the ruling Trinamool have sunk to new low, and the Left Front, 25 farmers have taken their own lives in the first eight months of the Mamata Banerjee government.
Most suicides – at least 17 – have occurred in the fertile Burdwan district, earlier known as the rice bowl of Bengal for its paddy harvest. Suicides have also occurred in Bankura, Hooghly, Malda and Jalpaiguri.
Mostly victims have been paddy farmers. Potato cultivators including share croppers and agricultural labourers have also committed suicide.
Calling for a “new agricultural movement” in the wake of the ongoing farmer suicides in the state, former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday said the Mamata regime’s sole target was to change all the pro-people policies of the Left Front government.
“The main focus of this government is to change all the pro-people policies of the previous Left Front government. What was wrong in the education policies of the previous government? After coming to power they nullified all the laws of the education system. They want the government to decide the do’s and don’t’s,” he said.
“The elected representatives of the universities will not have any say in the functioning of the universities. Only the MLAs and MPs of Trinamool Congress have their say on each and every issue,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member said at a rally in this Hooghly district town.
Bhattacharjee criticised the state government for overlooking the interests of the farmers which in turn has triggered farmer suicides. (IANS)