Navjot Singh Sidhu attacks NDA government, accuses insurance companies of looting farmers

Cricketer-turned-politician and senior Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday said that private crop insurance companies had replaced government insurance companies and they were looting farmers by charging high premiums and making negligible payments in the event of crop failure.

A four-time Member of Parliament from Amritsar when he was in the BJP, Sidhu joined the Congress and successfully contested the state Assembly election from Amritsar East in 2017. Sidhu is said to have quit the BJP following differences with Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia.

Once a confidant of Prime Minister Narender Modi, for whom he campaigned in Gujarat Assembly elections in 2012 as a star campaigner of the BJP when Modi was Gujarat CM, Sidhu has launched a scathing attack on the NDA government.

Taking to Twitter, Sidhu said, "Farmers know well that the Central Govt. backed corporate take-over of Indian agriculture is growing rapidly, Crop Insurance Companies have replaced Govt. Insurance... Looting Farmers & State exchequer with high premiums and negligible payments for Crop Failure. #IndiaWithFarmers."

Attaching a video with his tweet, in which he alleged that farmers are being cheated by private crop insurance companies that have replaced the government insurance companies, Sidhu took on the BJP-ruled Union government.

"There was a crop insurance scheme of Rs 31,000 crore, but farmers got only Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 16,000 crore went to the pockets of Birlas, Tatas and Ambanis. Earlier, state governments and the Central government used to provide crop insurance on nominal rates through Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and other companies. Later private companies came in this sector," he said in the video.

"Premium has increased by 350 per cent. The farmers got only 0.42 per cent. Think about it. About 2,80,000 farmers are engaged in soy cultivation. If the entire crop fails, the premium is of Rs 173 crore but farmers get only Rs 30 crore. Private companies get a net profit of Rs 143 crore. Farmers do hard work. Reliance enjoys the fruits of hard work," he added.

In another tweet, he said, “Farmers protests are our last line of defence against Corporate takeover of India’s Food systems… Govt giving baseless arguments that farmers who gave India Food Security over generations of hard labour are misguided about their own occupation. Justifying a fault doubles it up!”