The Maharashtra Congress staged a noisy ‘halla-bol’ protest march to highlight the plight of farmers, workers, jobless, women and other issues which are being ignored by what it termed as a “blind, deaf & dumb’ BJP government, here on Monday.
Leading the protest march from Dikshabhoomi to the legislature, state Congress President Nana Patole said the Chief Minister (Eknath Shinde) has no replies to the Opposition’s questions, but the ‘Super CM’ (Devendra Fadnavis) claims the government has extended a lot of aid to the farmers ravaged by the recent unseasonal rains/hailstorms, which has not reached them.
“If the government has really helped the farmers, where did it go? The state is facing acute water scarcity, there’s dry drought on one side and wet drought on the other besides the unseasonal rains that wreaked havoc on farmlands. The government must immediately provide a loan waiver to the farmers facing crisis,” demanded Patole.
He also sought to know that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a support price of Rs 3,100 and Rs 1,000 bonus for paddy farmers in Chhattisgarh, and gas cylinder for Rs 450, why the same cannot be made available in Maharashtra.
Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said that inflation has touched new highs, making it difficult for people even to survive, while educated youth don’t get employment, but the government is turning a blind eye to them.
“The BJP government at the Centre has been ruling for the past nearly 10 years by undermining the Constitution. It makes tall promises but fails to deliver them while the masses continue to suffer,” said Thorat.
Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar said the Opposition has been raising the issue of justice to farmers from the first day of the legislature, but the government has turned a deaf ear.
“The Shinde-Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar regime is destroying the farmers. But they will not forget or remain silent, and teach a lesson to the ‘MahaYuti’ government. Today’s ‘halla-bol’ is a march to preserve the Constitution of B.R. Ambedkar,” Wadettiwar said.
He pointed out how the government had promised to give 75,000 jobs in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Independence, but “till date there is no recruitment” as the unemployed continue to beg for employment.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan pointed out how the Congress came to power in Telangana on the basis of six guarantees, as he and cautioned the MahaYuti that “now it’s the turn of Maharashtra”, highlighting the multitude of grave problems confronting the state.
Another ex-Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan, slammed the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for its ‘ruining’ decisions like demonetisation, GST, the lockdowns and other issues that have spelt ‘doom’ for the national economy, and broke the back of MSMEs.
He expressed fear that if the BJP government is not ousted in next year’s Lok Sabha elections, it will spell the end of the Constitution and democracy in the country.
Patole noted that in the recent Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, a majority of the Congress candidates in the bordering areas with Maharashtra were elected, and a “pro-Congress wave is seen in the state”.
He also demanded that the BJP should show courage and conduct the civic elections in the state so that “they realise that people are now against them”.
Others who spoke on the occasion were M. Arif Naseem Khan, Nitin Raut, Yashomati Thakur, Varsha Gaikwad, Satel ‘Bunty’ Patil and Atul Londe, among others.
The ‘halla-bol’ march and public meeting was attended by the entire top brass of state Congress and other party organisations.
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