The Mahayuti's promise before the Maharashtra assembly elections to give a farm loan waiver to farmers has come back to haunt it as former MLA Bachchu Kadu, who heads his Prahar Janshakti Party, is leading a protest in Nagpur, pressing the BJP-led Maharashtra government to deliver on its promise.
Kadu has been protesting since Tuesday by blocking three national highways and several smaller roads in Nagpur through his 'tractor march'. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the inconvenience caused to citizens and asked the ex-MLA to vacate the roads by 6 pm. However, he has refused to relent. "We don't want to insult the high court but every day 12 farmers die by suicide. We have been waiting for the judiciary to take cognizance of this but it hasn't. Instead, we are seeing the HC give a decision in one day, while we are protesting to prevent the farmer suicides... We will stay at our current location. Police can arrest all of us," said Kadu reacting to the HC decision.
Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, whose farmer organisation is also supporting the stir, has said that they will not back down and the police is free to arrest them.
After holding talks with state government representatives, Kadu has agreed to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on the condition that the stir in Nagpur is allowed to continue.
Earlier in the day, Kadu warned the stir could become bigger. "We are just asking them to follow through on their promise as farmers are reeling under severe losses due to extreme floods."
Kadu has been protesting since Tuesday by blocking three national highways and several smaller roads in Nagpur through his 'tractor march'. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the inconvenience caused to citizens and asked the ex-MLA to vacate the roads by 6 pm. However, he has refused to relent. "We don't want to insult the high court but every day 12 farmers die by suicide. We have been waiting for the judiciary to take cognizance of this but it hasn't. Instead, we are seeing the HC give a decision in one day, while we are protesting to prevent the farmer suicides... We will stay at our current location. Police can arrest all of us," said Kadu reacting to the HC decision.
Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, whose farmer organisation is also supporting the stir, has said that they will not back down and the police is free to arrest them.
After holding talks with state government representatives, Kadu has agreed to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on the condition that the stir in Nagpur is allowed to continue.
Earlier in the day, Kadu warned the stir could become bigger. "We are just asking them to follow through on their promise as farmers are reeling under severe losses due to extreme floods."
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