Farmers Not A Priority For Previous UP Governments: Yogi Adityanath

Farmers were not the priority for the governments in Uttar Pradesh for the last 14-15 years but the situation has changed and the politics now will be farmer and youth-centric, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today.

He was addressing a gathering at an event where certificates were distributed under the "Rin Mochan Yojna" (Loan waiver scheme), a key pre-poll promise of the BJP. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was the chief guest at the event.

"Farmers were not the priority of the state governments for the past 14-15 years due to which their condition became from bad to worse. The politics of UP will now recover from this narrow mindedness. The days of politics of family and religion have passed. Now the state politics will be farmer and youth-centric," Mr Adityanath said in an apparent attack on his political rivals.

Continuing his attack, Yogi Adityanath alleged that the previous governments had become a tool for 'saudebazi' (deal-making).

"Leaders used to build big mansions and those alive used to construct memorials in their name. Politics was criminalised but we will give transparent and good governance," he said.

The chief minister said that the government, from today, was initiating the waiver of farmers' loans costing Rs. 36,000 crore to the UP exchequer and the money will be directly sent to farmers' accounts.

"This is the right of the farmers. The government is not doing them any favour," he added.

Union Home minister Singh, who was the chief guest at the programme, lauded the state government for working for farmers. Singh said the prime minister had set the target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

Mentioning the menace of stray cattle which leads to loss of crop to farmers, Mr Singh hoped that the chief minister will find a solution.

He added that the Centre had reduced the price of fertilisers.

"Earlier farmers got 'lathis' for fertilisers and seeds. But the situation changed after Narendra Modi become the PM. In UP, the work of verification of farmers is going on and 70 lakh of them have been verified," he claimed.

At the event, Yogi Adityanath also highlighted record purchase of wheat in the state in a record time. On the occasion, over 50 farmers were given certificates of loan waiver on the dais.