Watch: Madhya Pradesh CM launches helpline, rings as a caller. Then this happens

It was meant to be a moment for the Madhya Pradesh government to showcase its farmer-friendly policies. But what unfolded in Bhopal on Thursday seemed straight out of a political comedy.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had just launched a free farmer helpline number, a service intended to ease the struggles of thousands of farmers across the state. However, it didn’t take long for the carefully choreographed event to veer off course.

In a bid to make the moment more personal, Yadav decided to dial the helpline live on stage. His voice echoed through the microphone as he prepared to demonstrate how easily farmers could access assistance.

But as the seconds ticked by, the crowd’s excitement gave way to an awkward silence.

Introducing himself as an ordinary farmer, Yadav asked the helpline to suggest a suitable crop for summer. The response, however, proved to be an anticlimax. “We do not have any information at the moment,” the operator replied.

The Chief Minister quickly ended the call as the audience broke into laughter.

The episode soon drew a reaction from state Congress chief Jitu Patwari, who shared the viral clip on X and criticised the administration for being unprepared.

“Just as the Chief Minister doesn’t know that jaggery doesn’t grow in fields, that 50 quintals of wheat don’t come from one bigha of land, in exactly the same way, his officers also don’t know which crop should be grown in the summer,” he said.

Patwari was referring to two earlier remarks by Yadav. In one instance, the Chief Minister had said farmers were growing “jaggery,” which is actually a byproduct of sugarcane. In another, the Chief Minister had claimed that one bigha of land could yield 50 quintals of wheat — an assertion widely considered unrealistic.

The ‘CM Kisan Helpline’, launched at an event in Bhopal on Thursday, seeks to directly support the farming community by providing guidance through the toll-free number 155253. However, the event ended up providing political fodder to the Congress.

- Ends