Don't vote for Congress, NCP, says Maharashtra farmer in suicide note

Yavatmal: He could have been another statistic among the many desperate cotton farmers who have committed suicide in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region this year. But 45-year-old Gajanand Ghotekar left behind a suicide note before he drank pesticide. He said, "Don't vote for the Congress and NCP; they don't care for farmers."

Mr Ghotekar killed himself on Sunday as he could not repay a loan for over a lakh rupees. He had bought a tractor, but with prices for cotton very low, he could not pay for it. The daunting task of arranging a marriage for his young daughter too stared the debt-ridden farmer in the face.

The farmer said in his suicide note that he had expected the state government and the Centre to take steps to ensure better prices for cotton and asked people not to vote for the ruling Congress- NCP alliance next time as "they do not worry about the farmers' crisis."

The crisis is growing. Mr Ghotekar is one of five farmers that committed suicide in the Vidarbha region in the last 24 hours; about 325 farmers have killed themselves since January this year. This is the peak season for cotton, but social activists working with farmers accuse the government of not responding to the farmers' desperate pleas to help them get better prices.