Maha agri minister apologises for insulting farmers | Mumbai news

Mumbai: A day after accusing farmers in the state of deliberately defaulting on crop loans in the hope of getting a farm loan waiver, Maharashtra agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate on Sunday tendered an apology for hurting their feelings.

“Yesterday, I unintentionally and jokingly said something. If that has hurt the honour and feelings of the Maharashtra farmers, I tender my apology to them,” Kokate said on the sidelines of his visit to the Kalaram temple in Nashik.

The comments were made in a light mood and that too to a friend, Kokate claimed after a video with the remarks went viral, drawing sharp criticism from farmers groups as well as opposition parties.

On Saturday, while interacting with farmers with farmers affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorms at his home district Nasik, Kokate had accused them of defaulting on crop loans and spending the amounts thus saved on functions like weddings and festivals.

“You people take crop loans and then default on them for 5-10 years, so that the loans would be waived. You do not invest money in your farms – the state government gives you financial assistance for everything, from drip irrigation to ponds and pipelines,” he was heard saying in the video. The government and not farmers provided capital for farming activities, he said.

Kokate has faced farmers’ ire over his comments earlier too, including in February, when he compared them with beggars. “Nowadays, even beggars do not accept ₹1, but the government offeres crop insurance to farmers for just ₹1,” he had said then.

On February 20, the agriculture minister and his brother Vijay Kokate were convicted for two years after being found guilty of cheating and forgery in a case dating back over three decades. The two brothers had fraudulently acquired two flats under the chief minister’s discretionary quota — meant for economically weaker sections — by submitting fabricated documents, the court had ruled.