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Bihar polls: Grand Alliance floats tested plan of farm loan waiver

The entry of the farm loan waiver promise could give the Opposition a shot in the arm as 80% of Bihar is engaged in farming activities
Last Updated 24 October 2020, 16:09 IST

Farm loan waiver, the mother of all political promises, has now made a big bang entry in the Bihar polls scenario with the main Opposition party RJD on Saturday making this promise while releasing the party manifesto.

Earlier, the Congress, which is an alliance partner of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), had made the promise for farm loans besides 50 per cent rebate in electricity bills to farmers in its manifesto called 'Badlav Patra 2020' (The Document of Change) released on Wednesday.

The entry of the farm loan waiver promise in the Bihar polls could give the Opposition a shot in the arm as 80 per cent population of Bihar is engaged in farming activities.

Out of 104.32 lakh hectare agriculture land, 86.46 lakh (82.9%) are owned by marginal farmers, 10.06 lakh (9.6%) by small farmers and 7.81 lakh (7.5%) by farmers holding land above 2 hectares.

The Congress, without specifying the quantum of land holding for loan waiver, said the loan for farmers will be waived off, the registration fee for tractors will not be charged and farmers will get 50% subsidy on electricity bills.

However, while in the past, the parties promising farm loan waiver before elections have reaped rich dividends, they find it a herculean task to complete if they come to power.

The UPA government, which announced the Rs 60,000-crore farm waiver pushed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, had a repeat shot in power in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had later targeted the Congress for the 'lollipop loan waiver', repeatedly asking farmers whether they benefited from it.

There were problems when the Congress fell back on this in the 2018 state elections for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The problem was more in the big agrarian state Madhya Pradesh where the alleged delayed and partial waiver came in for sharp attack by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress lost the support of farmers within a year of coming to power there.

Again ahead of Haryana polls in 2019, The Congress promised it will waive loans of the farmers who take small loans within a few days of coming to power as it did in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The party, however, failed to come to power in the farm state.

In Bihar, the RJD's manifesto stressed increasing the income of farmers and waiving KCC (Kisan Credit Card) loan taken by the cultivators till 2020, besides promising to purchase grains from the farmers at an enhanced Minimum Support Price (MSP) with bonus included.

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(Published 24 October 2020, 16:09 IST)

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