INDIA alliance govt will work for protection, uplift of farmers: MVA partners at Maha rally

Mumbai, March 14 (IANS) The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners including the Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena(UBT) and Left parties on Thursday stepped up their attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of being anti-farmer and assured that the INDIA bloc government would work for the protection and betterment of growers.

In a show of solidarity, former union agriculture minister and NCP(SP) chief, Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena(UBT) MP, Sanjay Raut, shared the dais with Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, at the farmers’ rally in the onion growing Chandwad area in Nashik District, during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

The three leaders, Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi and Sanjay Raut in their speeches targeted the Centre for the present plight of farmers, rising inflation, unemployment and efforts to protect the interests of a few billionaires and industrialists.

They urged the farmers present there, who are largely onion producers affected by the flip-flop export and import policy, to defeat the BJP-led Union government.

They promised that the INDIA alliance government would not only take care of the farmers’ needs but would also act in their favour, particularly during a crisis.

NCP(SP) chief Pawar reminded the growers of the UPA’s decision to waive off Rs 70,000 crore loans and claimed that the BJP-led government at the Centre had no sympathy or willingness to address the issues faced by the farmers.

He exhorted the farmers to unite to work for the defeat of the present rulers at the Centre for their neglect of the farmers, the working class and also for their failure to address burning issues such as burgeoning unemployment and price rise.

MP Sanjay Raut claimed that due to the Centre’s switch-on and switch-off export and import policies nearly 25 lakh onion growers had been hit and incurred losses to the tune of a whopping Rs 20,000 crore.

He claimed that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre was working in a dictatorial way. He added that while the onion growers from Maharashtra were suffering losses due to Centre’s policies, the traders from Gujarat were making a fortune by procuring onion at throwaway prices from the farmers from the state. He warned that such a Gujarat pattern would not be tolerated.

In his speech, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi assured farmers of legalisation of the Minimum Support Price with the implementation of the MS Swaminathan formula; restructuring of the crop insurance scheme; withdrawal of GST currently recovered from farmers; loan waiver and protection of price of agricultural produce during export and import.