Already facing severe criticism over State Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Prahlad Patel’s remarks equating people to beggars – with the Congress charging that the BJP led Madhya Pradesh government is itself acting like a beggar and continuously taking loans from the market – the Dr Mohan Yadav led state regime is learnt to be again all ready to take another loan of at least Rs 6,000 crore from the open market.

According to well-informed sources, the tenders for three loans of Rs 2000 crore each have been called, and the bids will be opened on 5 March. Sources said that the loan, totaling Rs 6000 crore, would be taken for 14 years.

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“On the one hand, the Mohan Yadav government is already reeling under a debt of more than Rs 3.75 lakh crore, while on the other, cabinet minister Prahlad Patel is calling the poor and needy people, beggars,” averred K K Mishra, the media advisor to MP Congress Chief Jitu Patwari.

“Now the government is again ready to take another loan of Rs 6,000 crore. Isn’t the MP BJP government itself a beggar?” Mishra questioned.

“Prahlad Patel’s statement calling the people beggars is completely humiliating for the poor and needy people. The CM must immediately dismiss the minister from his post,” Mishra told The Statesman on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, intensifying its attack on Prahlad Patel and CM Dr Mohan Yadav, the Congress has decided to hold massive protests in all districts of the state on 5 March.

MP Congress media cell head Mukesh Nayak demanded that the CM and the minister resign. Nayak alleged that Prahlad Patel’s remarks also mean that the BJP government also considers as beggars, the 1.29 crore women beneficiaries of the ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’, getting Rs 1250 per month from the government.

Nayak said the Congress would fight on the roads for the rights and respect of the poor and needy by holding statewide protests against the BJP government on 5 March.

Madhya Pradesh Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Prahlad Patel had courted controversy by commenting that people have fallen into the habit of begging from the government, and that the society is being weakened by assembling an army of beggars.

Patel made the comment publicly on 1 March, while addressing a large gathering of people, after unveiling the statue of Rani Avanti Bai Lodhi in the Suthaliya town of Rajgarh district of the state.

During the programme on Saturday, Prahlad Patel had said, “People have become accustomed to begging from the government.”

“Whenever leaders come in the midst of people, they are handed a pile of demand letters. First, politicians are garlanded, and then they are handed a demand letter. This is not a good habit,” remarked Patel, who is a former union minister too.

“Instead of always taking, develop a mindset of giving. I can confidently say that if you do this, you will be happier and help build a cultured society,” he advised.

“Assembling an army of beggars does not strengthen society; it weakens it,” Patel had averred.

“The more we are drawn to free things, the less we honour our brave warriors,” he said.

“Those who sacrificed their lives for the country—why did they do so?” Patel questioned.

“The true tribute to a martyr is to abide by their principles. I can say with certainty that no martyr has ever begged for anything from anyone,” Prahlad Patel had stated.

Avanti Bai was a queen-ruler and freedom fighter. She was the queen of Ramgarh (now Dindori) in Madhya Pradesh. She sacrificed her life facing certain defeat at the hands of the British Army, piercing herself with her sword on March 20, 1858.