‘Ghosts to blame for farmer suicides’

“Ghosts” have been driving farmers in Madhya Pradesh to commit suicide. This is the official version of the MP government.

On Wednesday, state home minister Bhupendra Singh dropped a bomb shell in the MP Assembly by making the startling statement that “bhoot, pret, upari saya (apparitions)”, and not crop loss, were the key reasons behind the farmer suicides in the state. He refused to budge from his stand even as his statement triggered an uproar in the House, with the Opposition Congress seeking a clarification if the Shivraj Singh government believed in superstition.

“In some rural pockets of the state, a ritual prevails wherein people are freed of influence of spirits,” the minister said.

Copies of the minister’s reply were circulated to mediapersons by the Congress.

“The minister’s shocking reply stunned the whole House into silence for a moment,” a Congress member said.

Realising that he had been caught on the wrong foot, the minister told reporters the relatives of deceased farmers, not the government, attributed the deaths to ghosts. “We record the statements of the family when a person commits suicide. It was their statements which were reflected in our reply,” he said.

The government does not believe in superstition,” he added. A state crime record bureau says as many as 6,594 farmers in the state committed suicide in 2010-15. Eighty per cent ended their lives owing to inability to repay loans borrowed from the local money lenders following crop failure.