The lackluster show winded up in a few hours after a handful of Congress leaders and workers were detained.
Congress's 'Kisan Akrosh Rally' organised on Tuesday in Gandhinagar to demand farm loan waiver saw a poor turnout with a mere 3,000 farmers. The lackluster show winded up in a few hours after a handful of Congress leaders and workers were detained. Meanwhile, deputy CM Nitin Patel said that the BJP-ruled state government will make the announcement on the loan waiver in two days.
Congress's effort was to tighten the noose around the neck of the BJP government over the issue. The party had given a call to its workers and farmers to gather at the Satyagrah Chhavni Maidan in Gandhinagar and to lay siege of the Assembly by way of a rally on the first day of the monsoon session.
However, the poor turnout delayed the rally by at least two hours. The police also succeeded in foiling their efforts to march for the Assembly siege and detained some 300 to 500 Congress leaders and workers including the party's Gujarat chief, Amit Chavda and in-charge, Rajiv Satav from the venue after they moved towards the Assembly.
Chavda, before his detention at the rally, said, "Today we are launching a drive with the slogan of 'Khedut deva maf karo nahitar BJP ne saf karo (either push them for farmers' debt waiver or remove BJP from powers). We have to run this protest from the village and reach Gandhinagar to push this government. BJP government has totally anti-farmers psyche and due to their ill policies, farmers have indebted heavily."
Satav said, "The Modi government had promised to waive debts of farmers before the last Lok Sabha polls but he and his government are now trying to waive the debts by several industrialist and richie rich like Mallya and Modi. Do you wish them to be in power again so that they would let many such other bankrupt industrialist to flee from India?. When Congress-led governments could waive off the loans of farmers, why BJP government cannot do the same?"
After the rally, several Congress workers indulged in violent protests and verbal altercation with the police. Many workers pelted stone at the police leaving some to bleed profusely. When a few Congress MLAs were trying to enter the premise of secretariat complex to gherao the Assembly, a legislator from Lathi Virji Thumar roughed up a female police when she was denied entry.
Thumar, however, defended that he was oblivious that it was a female police and registered his protest against them because the police let BJP MLAs to enter but did not allow Congress MLAs the same.
After the high voltage drama, deputy CM Nitin Patel said, "Congress when was the power they had open fired at farmers rally and had killed them. They also had lathicharged on farmers during protest programmes very often. Our government will make farmers related grate announcement in two days."
Gujarat BJP chief, Jitu Vaghani said, "Congress is speaking the language of Medha Patkar and has become an anti-Gujarat party. By supporting Hardik Patel, they misled Patel community and now they are targeting farming community."
The leader of Opposition, Paresh Dhanani could not attend the protest rally as he had to attend the session of Assembly but did not let the opportunity to criticise the BJP-led state government on faulty land resurvey and irregularity of purchase of groundnut on support price from farmers. He also announced holding a protest march from the MLA housing to the Assembly building on Wednesday to mark the protest against the BJP government on different issues.
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