Deceiving Farmers is for Nobody's Good: FM Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday took a strong stance against deceptive promises made to farmers, asserting that such practices benefit no one. Speaking during the Rajya Sabha discussion on The Banking Laws (Amendment), 2024 Bill, Sitharaman criticized the Congress party for misleading farmers with their loan waiver schemes, which she claimed left many in financial distress.

Referring to remarks made by BRS member Ravi Chandra Vaddiraju in Telugu, the finance minister targeted the Congress over its "Rina Maafi" (loan waiver) promise. She argued that while Congress made grand announcements, "half the farmers were left without loan waiver, the banks had put their name on record thereby making them also ineligible for new loans."

"I would want to highlight the fact that deceiving the farmers is for nobody's good. If you really want to help the farmers, here is Prime Minister Modi putting Rs 2,000 every time, annually, 6,000 rupees into their account through the transparent DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer). It helps the small farmers. Show it in action," she asserted.

Sitharaman accused the Congress of implementing policies that remained largely on paper and, when acted upon, were marred by corruption. She drew parallels with other welfare schemes, stating, "I want to highlight like the way they speak about food security, MGNREGA and the rural areas, all schemes brought by them (but) none of which were effectively implemented. When Prime Minister Modi implements them, without corruption, without malpractice and without any kind of wrongdoing. They will say, oh that was our scheme. Yes, it was your scheme, but you kept it in the paper, or you mismanaged."

Reinforcing her criticism, she reiterated that Congress' policies were characterized by "big-time talk with no action on the ground and if there's action, it's riddled with corruption."

Sitharaman also referenced media reports to argue that Congress had used farm loan waiver promises to return to power in 2009. "So instead of serving the farmers, the Congress's notorious 2008 (promise), by which we were told through the media, that they won election and came back in 2009, that notorious Rina Maafi had left many farmers, neither here nor there," she said.

Following this statement, DMK member Tiruchi Siva objected to the use of the word "notorious," calling it unparliamentary and seeking its removal from the record. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar responded that he would examine the point of order raised by Siva and take appropriate action.

The debate underscored the ongoing political battle over agricultural policies, with Sitharaman positioning the Modi government’s direct benefit initiatives as a more effective alternative to Congress' past loan waivers.