Former Deputy Speaker of Odisha legislative Assembly and well-known farmers’ leader Rama Chandra Panda has been nominated as a national vice-president of the BJP Krushak Morcha by BJP president Rajanath Singh.
Panda has in past led several farmers’ movements and is the architect of river-link movement in Odisha. He launched the first farmers’ agitation in Ganjam Town in 1969 demanding compensation to farmers who were then the victims of water and air pollution and was arrested in 1971 with several other citizens.
In May 1986 and November 2007, he organised farmers’ rallies launching the Save Rushikulya campaign. Besides demanding Rushikulya- Bansadhara-Mahanadi river link, he submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and organised a weeklong Jala Sanjog Yatra from Kasinagar to the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar from March 5 to 12, 2010, after which the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has in principle submitted a preliminary feasibility report for the proposed river linkage.
A prominent students’ leader of the 1960s, a senior lawyer, a veteran social worker and former trade union leader, Panda has never compromised his principles based on justice and equity.
Panda’s nomination as the national vice-president of the BJP Krushak Morcha has been hailed by all sections of people and party workers in Ganjam district.