Congress aims to tap into ryots’ anger.
Simrol (Madhya Pradesh): Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s repeated attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation at election meetings in Madhya Pradesh led the Prime Minister to declare that Mr. Gandhi’s party is yet to revive from the “shock” inflicted by the note ban.
“Only the Congress and one family are still crying because what they had pilfered for four generations was lost in one go,” Mr. Modi said at a meeting in Shahdol on November 16.
But the Congress’s strategy to raise the issue repeatedly is designed to find support among farmers.
Cash crunch
Across Madhya Pradesh, one common complaint among farmers is the shortage of cash post-demonetisation.
Their earnings, after selling their produce in authorised markets, are directly transferred to their bank accounts.
“It is true that the system is now more transparent, but it has led to a massive cash crunch,” says Ashish Gawli, a 38-year-old farmer at Simrol in Mhow tehsil, who cultivates various crops on a six-acre plot.
Mr. Gawli, a Marathi-speaking farmer who identifies himself as a BJP supporter, admits that cash crunch made life difficult for agriculturists.
“We have to pay our workers in cash. And if we delay their payments or default, then our regular workers don’t turn up for work in the next season. We also need cash to buy diesel for pumps, to hire tractor and for other inputs,” he says.
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