The Maharashtra Congress on Monday organised a noisy ‘halla-bol’ morcha in Nagpur to protest against the “blind, deaf and dumb” Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena- BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar) alliance government over the plight of farmers, workers, jobless, women, inflation, crime and other issues.
State Congress chief Nana Patole — who led the halla-bol’ morcha from Dikshabhoomi to the State Legislature in Nagpur where winter session is currently-- charged that while the Shinde-led three party government had no replies to the Opposition, deputy chief minister Devendra Fandavis – who considers himself as a “Super CM” was falsely claiming that the state government had done a lot for the aggrieved farmers.
Questioning Fadnavis’ claim of having reached out aid to the farmers, Patole said: “If the state government has really helped the farmers, then where has the help gone? The state is reeling under acute water scarcity. We are facing both dry drought and wet drought in the state. Unseasonal rains have wreaked havoc on farmlands. Under the circumstances, we demand a loan waiver for the distressed farmers”.
Patole demanded that the Maharashtra government replicate the support price hike of Rs 3,100 and Rs 1000 bonus for paddy farmers in Chhattisgarh for farmers, and availability of a gas cylinder for Rs 450 announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent election campaign.
“The BJP government at the Centre has been ruling the country for the past nearly 10 years by undermining the tenets of the Constitution… The Modi government makes tall promises but fails to deliver and the masses continue to suffer,” Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat said.
Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar said: “The Shinde-Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar regime is destroying the lives of the farmers… The farmers will teach a lesson to the MahaYuti government. Today’s ‘halla-bol’ morcha is aimed at preserving the Constitution of late B. R. Ambedkar,” Wadettiwar said.
Wadettiwar accused the Shinde-led three party government of failing to fulfil its promise of creating 75,000 jobs in the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Independence “Till date, not even one person has been recruited,” he said.
Former chief minister Ashok Chavan said that the Congress came to power in Telangana on the basis of 6 Guarantees, while it was voted to office in Karnataka through similar guarantees “Now it’s the turn of Maharashtra to mitigate the grievances of the people on a war-footing basis,” he said.
Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan came down heavily on the Modi government for destroying the country’s economy through its disastrous decisions like demonetisation, GST, the lockdowns and other issues.
