Rahul Gandhi to Speak in Parliament Today on Farmers' Crisis

New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is expected to bring up the plight of farmers in the country in the Lok Sabha today. A Haryana minister's shocking comment on farmers who commit suicide is likely to feature in his attack on the BJP.

The BJP, which rules at the Centre also rules Haryana, where agriculture minister OP Dhankar said on Tuesday, "Suicide is a crime. According to Indian law, suicide is a crime. A person who commits suicide runs away from his responsibilities. Such people are cowards and the government cannot stand by such cowards or criminals."

As he entered Parliament this morning, reporters asked Mr Gandhi  if he would like to respond to Mr Dhanker's statement.  Rahul didn't offer any comment but he did cross check Mr Dhankar's name with reporters before walking in.

The Congress leader is just back from Punjab, where he visited grain markets and talked to farmers distressed at the slow purchase of their produce. This evening he will go to Vidarbha in Maharashtra, which has witnessed the maximum suicides by farmers.

The BJP rules Punjab and Maharashtra too, along with allies.

In the Lok Sabha, the Congress today requested that Question Hour be suspended for the discussion on farmers, but the Speaker rejected that, assuring the main Opposition party that she would schedule a debate after Question Hour.

Zero Hour begins at 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the House too.

This morning, Mr Gandhi made a jibe at PM Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, when he said in Chandigarh, ''The PM talks of make in India but the farmers of Punjab are the true make in India."

In a speech in Parliament earlier this session, Mr Gandhi had described PM Modi's government as a "suit-boot government," accusing it of "favouring big industrialists at the cost of the poor farmer."

At a time when farmers across the country are struggling with damage to crop from unseasonal rain, the Congress leader has tried to focus rural anger at the Centre by targeting it on its land bill, which makes it easier to acquire land for industrial and key infrastructural projects.

Farmer suicides became the focus of a national debate again after a man from Rajasthan hanged himself at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi recently.