With the Congress riding high on its pre-poll promise to waive farm loans in Chhattisgarh in a year of insufficient rainfall, some BJP candidates in the State have been pushed off-script and are promising loan waivers as well, even without official backing from their party.
Sitting in front of a shop at Ganjenar village in Dantewada, 36-year-old Guddu Markam says he does not have the money to hire workers to cut his crop. “What’s the point anyway? There is barely any crop to cut. The crop has dried up; most of it we have already fed to the cattle, and the rest, whatever we cut, we will barely make anything. I have a farm loan of ₹50,000 from the co-operative bank, on which I will have to pay 16% interest if I don’t return the principal amount by April 2024. I need the loan to be waived off,” Mr. Markam tells The Hindu. He adds: “Will the BJP waive it? I certainly don’t think so.”
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