India, April 6 -- Agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, who has courted controversy several times in the last four months, has trained his guns on the state's farmers once more. This time, he has accused them of deliberately defaulting on crop loans, in the hope of benefitting from a farm loan waiver, and then lavishing the money thus saved on functions such as weddings and engagements.

Speaking to farmers on Saturday, Kokate remarked, "You people take crop loans and then default on them for 5 to 10 years, so that the loans would be waived. Farmers do not invest money in their farms. The state government gives you financial assistance for everything, from drip irrigation to ponds, pipelines etc."

After video footage of Kokate's remarks ...