Rise in farmer suicides in UP, BJP 'insensitive': Akhilesh

Farmer suicides in Uttar Pradesh have increased by 40 per cent in the one year rule of the BJP, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav today claimed, as he hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government for being "insensitive" towards the farming community.

This year alone, 27 farmers committed suicide in Mahoba district of Bundelkhand -- a region infamous for acute water shortage and farm distress, Yadav said.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which claims to have waived farmers' loans, is answerable for this," he said, while addressing party workers here.

The former chief minister also alleged that the youth and farmers were being harassed in the BJP rule.

"The youth and farmers are a harassed lot due to unemployment and debt, respectively. Instead of giving jobs to the youth, the government is taking them away without creating any alternatives for them," he said.

Buoyed by SP's success in the two bypoll in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, which were held by the BJP, Yadav predicted defeat for the saffron party across all Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general election.