The Congress on Wednesday lashed out at the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over alleged beating and stripping of farmers in Madhya Pradesh and the Maharashtra government over the death of farmers due to inhalation of insecticide fumes.
Besides 18 deaths, another 600 persons have been taken ill and are undergoing treatment in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district and surroundings areas due to toxic fumes from insecticides sprayed mostly in cotton and soya fields. The Devendra Fernandes government has set up an inquiry.
The Congress demanded a judicial probe into the stripping of farmers in Tikamgarh on Wednesday.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi attacked the Centre, saying that it was "busy killing the people who feed us".
"Saddened by the tragic death of farmers in Yavatmal. Farmers are being poisoned in Maharashtra and stripped and beaten in Madhya Pradesh," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
"What development model is this? Killing and dehumanising the sons of soil who feed us?" he added.
Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that "harassing the farmers has become a common practice" under the Narendra Modi government.
"The brutal beating and stripping of the farmers in Tikamgarh who were later tortured inside a police station has bought shame to the entire nation," Surjewala said here.
Recalling the Mandsaur incident in which at least five farmers were killed in police firing in June, Surjewala said the Madhya Pradesh goverment was giving patronage to the culprits.
"We demand a judicial probe and strict action against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government into the Tikamgarh incident. Whatever is happening there is not merely police doing it alone," Surjewala said.
--IANS
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