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Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Oct 11 (IANS) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday criticized the Mahayuti government, saying the Rs 31,628 crore relief package to compensate for crop losses due to heavy rains and floods was a “mockery” of farmers.
Speaking at a morcha organized by his party to protest the government’s “indifference” towards farmers, he accused the Mahayuti government of running away from its election promise of farm loan waiver and warned that the party would launch statewide protests.
Thackeray demanded that the government should not just restructure farm loans but should make serious efforts to reconstruct the farmers who have been left completely broke due to the natural disaster that hit Marathwada and other parts of the state.
Thackeray, who was accompanied by party MP Sanjay Raut, MLA Aaditya Thackeray and former opposition leader Ambadas Danve, among others, demanded that the government should pay Rs 50,000 per hectare, claiming the assistance announced in the relief package was grossly inadequate.
“The package announced by the government is unacceptable to the farmers. Although the relief package is a cruel joke, the government is busy patting itself on the back,” he said.
“We are demanding Rs 50,000 per hectare from those who have taken 50 boxes (referring to alleged money transactions by rebels in June 2022). Three days ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi came and went back to Delhi without saying a single word about financial assistance from the Center to flood-affected farmers. What justice are we demanding from a Prime Minister who does not know the ground level situation?” Thackeray asked.
Taking aim at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Thackeray said, farmers of Marathwada are saying that the king was generous and gave us watermelons.
Thackeray said he was ready to support the package announced by the government, but his condition was that the government should deposit Rs 1 lakh in the bank accounts of farmers out of the financial assistance of Rs 3.50 lakh per hectare announced for the land destroyed under NREGA before Diwali.
Stepping up his attack against the government, he said, “To do politics you (Mahayuti) need the votes of farmers. You come to power with the votes of farmers. You do politics on the votes of farmers. Then when farmers demand justice you say this is not politics. They said they will restructure the loans. We do not want this restructuring. We do not want farmers to die today and tomorrow. We want debt relief.”
Referring to CM Fadnavis’s statement in which he had raised questions about what right he had to talk about crop loan waiver, Thackeray said, “I have every right because when I was the chief minister, I had waived off farm loans. We are warning the government that if you do not free farmers from loans, we will launch statewide protests.”
He assured the farmers that the party will stand shoulder to shoulder with them in every crisis.
–IANS
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