HYDERABAD, 23 November 2004 — Cases of suicide by farmers and weavers have crossed the 2,000-mark in the 193 days of Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh, the main opposition Telugu Desam Party has alleged.
In all, 2,002 farmers and weavers committed suicide since May 14 when the Congress party assumed power in the state after assembly elections. The toll reached this mark despite the self-proclaimed “pro-farmer and pro-poor policies” adopted by the Congress regime, the TDP said on Sunday.
Releasing a detailed list of 1,825 farmers who committed suicide and another 177 people, including handloom weavers, who died of starvation during the six months of Congress rule, the Telugu Desam Legislature Party deputy leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy demanded a white paper on the causes of these unfortunate deaths, the relief extended by the government and the recurrence of suicide. “It only proves that all the efforts of the present government to prevent suicide have not worked,” he said. “If the present trend continues, the state will account for the suicide of 20,000 farmers in the five-year tenure of the Congress government. The desperate farmers have no hope that even the chief minister can solve their problem, as those meeting him at his camp office at Lake View Guest House here have been carrying pesticide bottles with them,” Reddy added.
