MUMBAI: BJP ministers in Maharashtra face the wrath of the farmers over free-falling prices of onion and cotton.
This comes even as a group of Tamil Nadu farmers, led by its leader PR Pandian, began their march towards the Parliament from Kanniyakumari, a few days ago, urging the Prime Minister to implement his assurances during farmers' protest in Delhi.
On Sunday, angry farmers threw onions at the vehicle of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Union minister for state and BJP Lok Sabha MP Bharati Pawar and state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar too faced the ire of the farmers.
The unrest among onion and cotton growers in the state has been escalating over plunging prices and the failure of the Centre to extend a helping hand to the farmers in crisis.
Angry farmers could be seen surrounding Bharati Pawar as seen in a video that went viral on social media even as the minister tried to soothe their tempers by stating that the Centre has been buying onion through NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) and ensured that there is no ban on the export of onion as well. She said that onion prices in the international market were down and hence the fall in the prices in the domestic market. Further, the supply of onion in the market is quite high.
However, in the video, the farmers could be seen attributing the wrong export-import policies of the Centre for their plight. The angry farmers argued that the Centre keeps changing its policies constantly and the farmers are suffering because of this.
"The Centre should compensate us by buying our onions at the international market rate and also extend all possible help to us," the farmers insisted.
Meanwhile, Devendra Fadnavis faced the ire of the farmers in Amaravati where the latter threw onions at his vehicle before the police swung into action and detained the protesters.
Maharashtra agriculture minister Abdul Sattar also faced the ire of the farmers at the agricultural exhibition in Amaravati. The farmers informed him that the price of onion has gone down below the price of old newspapers. Farmers argued that last year they sold a quintal of cotton for s 14,000 but currently they get only Rs 8,000 per quintal.
“We are not able to recover the input cost as well. If the government fail to help us there is no option left for us but to commit suicide," the farmers told him.
As reported by The New Indian Express, the representatives of the Tamil Nadu All Farmers Organization Coordination Committee, set out their Delhi march from Kanniyakumari late last week. They would travel via Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi, Jaipur and Chandigarh, before reaching New Delhi on March 20. The farmers are seeking, among other demands, a permanent law for fixing profitable minimum support price for agricultural produce every year.