Farmers can topple governments, they should unite to fight for their rights: KCR
HYDERABAD: TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday warned the BJP-led Central government that farmers can change governments if they wanted and exhorted the tillers of the country to fight unitedly for their rights. Addressing a meeting in Chandigarh, Rao said: “Kisaan chaahe to satta palat sakta hai. Badi baat nahi hai (If they want, the farmers can topple the government. It’s not a big deal).”
Rao, along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, distributed cheques to the family members of soldiers who were martyred in Galwan clashes and also to kin of 600 farmers who died during the agitation against three farm laws of the Central government. Addressing the gathering, Rao lamented that “we are conducting meetings like this even even after 75 years of Independence. This is painful. All of us should debate the present situation in the country”. “I bow my head and salute the farmers who lost their lives in the agitation,” Rao added.
The Chief Minister said that there were power cuts and farmers’ suicides before the formation of Telangana. “Now, we are providing 24x7 power supply to farmers,” he said. He, however, said that the Central government wanted the States to fix meters to agriculture pumpsets.“I said in the Assembly that I will not fix meters. They (Centre) will not appreciate the governments and Chief Ministers who talk about the welfare of the farmers. They will bring pressure on us,” he said.
Urging all the farmers in the country to unite and fight till they get constitutional protection for their produce, including Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops, Rao said that the farmers should support the parties which back them in the next elections. He said that he too would extend support to the farmers’ agitation.
Later, Rao distributed cheques to the kin of 28 farmers and five soldiers. The government of Telangana extended financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of 693 farmers who lost their lives during the agitation and Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of five martyred soldiers. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, in his opening remarks, said that the Telangana government was giving Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima to farmers.