MUMBAI: Shiv Sena legislators on Thursday wrote to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded the withdrawal of criminal charges against farmers which were invoked during the farmers’ agitations last month.
Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab told the New Indian Express, “State government announced loan waiver scheme only after the farmers’ protests last month. The farmers wanted their demand of loan waiver to be accepted by the government, for which they went on a strike and even undertook a state wide protest. Hence it is logical that if the government has accepted their demand, the cases against them should be scrapped.”
Farmers across the state had resorted to strike and protests since June 1, despite the government’s invitation to the leaders for a dialogue. However, the agitation turned violent at several places with milk tankers being emptied on their way to markets. This led the government to lodge criminal cases against the agitators.
Later, during the many rounds of discussions between farmer leaders and an empowered group of ministers, one of the demands raised was to withdraw the cases against farmers.
However, while announcing the loan waiver scheme, the government also announced the withdrawal of cases except those involving the violence during the protests, saying that those resorted to violence were not farmers.