Farm politics

As protests by students at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the subsequent police crackdown on them grabbed headlines, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Gopal Shetty decided it was time to turn the focus back on the issue of farmer suicides. On the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Wednesday, he said not all farmer suicides were caused by unemployment and starvation. At a time when Maharashtra is experiencing a grave agrarian crisis, Shetty's comment was bound to draw criticism - and it did. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam was quick to point out that Shetty's remarks reflected the BJP's "insensitivity" towards farmers' plight.