With mid-term poll clouds hovering over the political horizon, three former pro-reform chief ministers, under the banner of UNPA, have decided to espouse the cause of distressed farmers in a big way.
NEW DELHI: With mid-term poll clouds hovering over the political horizon, three former pro-reform chief ministers and Amar Singh, under the banner of United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), have decided to espouse the cause of distressed farmers in a big way.
Former cyber chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and corporate-friendly former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and former CM of Haryana Om Prakash Chautala on Tuesday announced a string of rallies in various parts of the country against UPA government’s apathy towards the kisans.
They also announced a dharna outside Parliament, in January-February, to force the UPA to implement pro-farmer measures. The rallies will be held in Jaipur on January 1, Mumbai on February 2, Ranchi on February 6. They also plan two rallies in Uttar Pradesh in February and one each in Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
Jharkhand Vikas Manch chief Babulal Marandi, Assom Gana Parishad chief Brindawan Goswami also addressed the seminar. ADMK which has severed ties with the UNPA and National Conference which is supposed to be with the third front formation did not attend the seminar. Father of green revolution MS Swaminathan was also among the speakers.
The Left parties also skipped the meet. The UNPA had invited them for their first farmers’ rally Vijawada last month, but the Left leaders declined to attend as they did not want to associate directly with UPA bashers.
Later, when asked why the CPI(M) declined to attend the Vijayawada meeting, Amar Singh said “after meeting Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister (November 16 lunch meet), Karat came to my residence and briefed me.”
Naidu and Amar Singh justified the absence of Left saying “The Left is still with the UPA. The Left has their own agenda, we have ours. However, we do join hands on common issues.” Later in the evening Naidu called on Karat and discussed political situation.
The leaders demanded that the government confer Bharat Ratna on Swaminathan for his “extraordinary” contribution and services to the farming community. They also demanded implementation of Swaminathan Commission report to improve the lot of farmers.
Asked about his “sudden love” for farmers whom he did not bother earlier with hundreds of farmers committing suicide when he was obsessed with “computers and e-governance”, Naidu admitted that his reforms lacked “human face”.
“I did concentrate on agriculture, we went for drip irrigation, etc and agricultural production was the highest, but we had droughts. I implemented reforms, promoted technology to create wealth. Reform benefit will trickle down to common man. It is happening, but it is very slow. Reforms with human face is totally missing.”
k_benedict@dnaindia.net
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