Sibal spreading falsehood about Gujarat farmers: Bhatt

Ahmedabad, Aug 19 (UNI) Gujarat Law and Justice Minister Ashok Bhatt today refuted the accusations of Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal about Gujarat farmers, saying they were ''baseless'' and that ''no farmer would believe an iota of it''.

Mr Sibal had last evening alleged that the farmers, the most- affected section, in Gujarat were living in the worst socio-economic conditions and over 300 of them had committed suicides because of depleted farming conditions.

Reacting to Mr Sibal's accusations, Mr Bhatt, in a release here, said the Gujarat farmers had suffered a lot in the past 45 years under the Congress rule, with shortages of water for irrigation and electricity.

No farmer would forget so easily the travails that they had undergone during the Congress rule, he said.

Quoting the statistics of Union Agriculture Ministry, he said the agriculture output in Gujarat had been Rs 34,000 crore and the growth rate of agriculture output was in double digit. Then why was Mr Sibal spreading falsehood about Gujarat farmers? asked Mr Bhatt.

Even according to Mr Sibal's own statistics, as stated by him in a release, he said during 1996-97 till 2005-06, the foodgrains output had risen in the state from 52,080 lakh tonnes to 61,540 lakh tonnes while oilseeds output had risen from 38,090 lakh tonnes to 46,820 lakh tonnes. So had the cotton output from 26,577 lakh tonnes to 67,720 lakh tonnes.

On the farmers' suicides, Mr Bhatt said Mr Sibal had no right to talk about the issue. Thousands of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra -- the states ruled by the Congress -- were neck deep in debt and many had killed themselves only to escape the debt trap.

He added that Mr Sibal need not shed crocodile tears for Gujarat farmers, who hadfared much better than their counterparts in the Congress-ruled states.

UNI