The Gujarat Congress will launch a ‘Kisan Akrosh Yatra’ covering the Saurashtra region from November 6 to 13 raising various demands including a complete waiver of farmers’ loans, special package for the crop losses due to unseasonal rainfall post Diwali and free fodder for cattle. The yatra will begin from Gir Somnath on November 6 and cover the eleven districts of Saurashtra before concluding in Dwarka on November 13.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Rajya Sabha MP and former Gujarat Congress Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Shaktisinh Gohil demanded a complete waiver of farmer loans, special assistance package for farmers and arrangement of fodder for cattle rearers across the state.
Lashing out at BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gohil showed a video of a 2014 election campaign rally in which Modi is seen promising that after the formation of the BJP government at the Centre, the first thing on the agenda will be waiver of farmers’ loans.
“We are demanding what we have already done. When the Congress was in power, farmers’ loans were waived. Currently, a drama is being played in the name of a survey of crop damage in the state. If Congress-ruled states like Karnataka and Telangana are providing Rs 16,000 and Rs 18,000 per acre to its farmers for crop loss, then why can’t the Gujarat government do it?” Gohil questioned.
Congress Legislative Assembly Party leader Tushar Chaudhary, MP Shaktisinh Gohil, Banaskantha MP Geniben Thakor and others will accompany the yatra in each district and hold meetings. A large number of farmers with tractors will join the protest. Local leaders have been given responsibility to gather farmers in large numbers in the villages, talukas and districts from where the yatra will pass, the party sources said. The yatra will be flagged off on Thursday from Somnath
Temple and travel through the districts of Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Surendranagar, Morbi, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, and finally conclude in Dwarka.
Gohil also accused the Gujarat government of discontinuing the central crop insurance scheme for farmers in the state from August 2020.
“Due to the absence of the insurance scheme, farmers have become helpless and are expecting the government’s help. There is a crop insurance scheme for farmers across the country, but not in Gujarat. The Chief Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme was announced when the Central Crop Insurance Scheme was discontinued. But not a single farmer has been provided the insurance cover under the scheme,” Gohil alleged.
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“The farmers in the state do not have any insurance cover. The government should accept its responsibility and provide financial assistance to all farmers against the land they have cultivated. To compensate the farmers for the loss caused by the unseasonal rains in October, the government should completely waive their loans,” Gohil demanded.
