Apart from projecting the late Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh as his successor at the well-attended rally held near Mundka village, the leaders claimed that in reality, the waiver would not benefit the impoverished farmers.

In a way, both agendas were linked. For, the party made it a point to insist that Sahib Singh had been the leader of farmers and the poor, and gave a green signal to Parvesh to carry forward that legacy. Sources said this should be seen as an appeal to the powerful Jat population in Delhi villages, apart from the poorer migrant labourers in unauthorised colonies of outer Delhi. Significantly, many pradhans from Jat-dominated villages attended the rally, they added.

Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, national president Rajnath Singh, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, Delhi state president Harsh Vardhan, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Jagdish Mukhi were among others present at the rally.

In a speech, Parvesh made repeated references to his father as a farmer-leader and said his creed was Antyodaya (welfare of the last man). He ended his speech with the words ‘Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Mazdoor, Jai Kisan’, reinforcing the point that farmers were his prime constituency.

Advani, on the other hand, took a dig at the loan waiver, saying, “In low productivity areas like Vidarbha, farmers have plots of land exceeding three hectares but little is produced there. These farmers will not benefit from the loan waiver as it aims at benefiting only those farmers who have up to two hectares of land.”

Moreover, he added, the large percentage of farmers who have taken loans from moneylenders would not get anything from this scheme.

Pointing out that India resides not in its mega-cities but in its villages, Rajnath said, “Seventy-seven crore people in India are farmers. The country is underdeveloped because little has been done for them after independence. If their purchasing power increases, the economy as a whole will benefit.”