Farmers who commit suicide are cowards, criminals under law, says Haryana Agriculture Minister

Chandigarh, Apr 29: In an embarrassment to ML Khattar government in Haryana, state's agriculture minister courted controversy after making a statement that farmers who commit suicide are 'cowards' and are criminals under the law.

Agriculture minister OP Dhankar told media here that the state government could not support farmers who were committing suicide.

He said that the farmers who were committing suicide were running away from their responsibilities and leaving their families and children with liabilities.

Dhankar, who earlier headed the Bharatiya Janata Party Kisan Cell, used to condemn the earlier UPA government for not doing much for farmers which was leading to increasing suicides.

Earlier last year, the BJP leader had stoked a big controversy by reportedly saying that the party would get girls from Bihar to ensure that men in Haryana can get married.

Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had assured adequate compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged in the heavy rains and hailstorms that lashed several parts of the state recently.

"The farmers will certainly get compensation more than that given by the previous regimes. Cheques of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20 or Rs 50 given by them to the farmers used to be a joke, " he said while interacting with media persons at an event in Pataudi earlier this month.

"Now, the state government has decided that no farmer would get compensation less than Rs 500," he added.

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