The 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly election campaign saw a huge barrage of populist promises made by political parties to woo the voters. Of the full spectrum, farmers distress emerged as a top polling issue in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Leading with populist promises, Rahul Gandhi had announced that farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived within 10 days of the new government. Kamal Nath seconded Rahul Gandhi and said that it will be his top priority after taking over.
The loan waiver which is set to cost Rs 35,000 Cr to Rs. 38,000 Cr to the government exchequer in Madhya Pradesh, is believed by many financial experts to be a huge burden on the finances of the state. Many experts also fear that populist promises like loan waivers might also trigger competitive populism which will have a detrimental effect on the effective financial management of the nation. Ashok Gulati, agriculture chair professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in Delhi said, ““The competitive populism to waive farm loans is nothing but a race to bottom,”.
However after the marginal victory in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections the Congress is yet to deliver on promises made during its election campaign. With the election commission announcing the polling dates and the Model code of conduct being in place, farmers received a note from the government of Madhya Pradesh stating that farm loan waivers would only be approved after Lok Sabha elections, this came hours before the formal announcement was made by the Election Commission. Taking a dig at the Kamal Nath Government, former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “The Congress government was in such a hurry to wash its hand off the farm loans that it started sending out messages to the farmers from around 2pm on Sunday, even as the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election dates at 5pm the same day.”
The Congress made a promise of waiving farmer loans while going into the assembly elections in 2018 in multiple states, however implementation inefficiencies have clouded the scheme with an image of a populist election stunt. So was the case with Shivnarayan, a farmer from a village in Agar Malwa, 190 km from Bhopal who was stunned to see Rs. 13 mentioned against his name. Shivnarayan said “”The state government had promised to waive loans up to Rs. 2 lakh. Forms were filled and I was expecting a complete waiver of my loan amount of Rs. 20,000. But the list that has come to the panchayat says only Rs. 13 has been waived,”. Hameed Khan, a farmer from Khargone i.e. Kamal Naths’ constituency , said he took a loan of Rs.10,000, but the loan waiver against his name was of Rs. 232 only. Cases of even nonexistent individuals receiving loan waiver have also surfaced.
While the government cited ‘technical and human errors’ for the mismanagement, leaders of the opposition, Gopal Bhargava said, “I am afraid most of the farmers will be cheated; they are even saying they don’t need the loan-waiver certificate as it’s of no use. Farmers will teach them a lesson in the Lok Sabha elections.”
Different opinions polls also indicate negative voter sentiment for the congress even after winning the assembly elections, Marginally though. Times Now-VMR survey suggests, BJP winning 23 out of the total 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Numbers by India TV-CNX Opinion poll also indicate 23 seats for BJP out of 29; ABP-Voter Survey also gave similar indication of BJP ahead on 23 seats.
With the decreasing patience of voters over the failed delivery of promises made by the Congress will lead to a difficult situation for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Many believe that Congress has neither the will nor the capacity to deliver on its promises. Promises made by the Congress were nothing more than electoral stunts.