Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Thursday underlined the need for building a “powerful national movement against the wrong policies” of the Congress governments at the Centre and States.
Addressing a public meeting convened by the Telugu Desam Party and its friendly parties at Gundur in support of their charter of demands for farmers' welfare, Mr. Karat said the movement should involve farmers, agricultural labour, workers and other toiling sections and it should ensure that the wrong policies were fought back. The CPI(M) was committed to fighting unitedly with the TDP and other like-minded parties the governments' “wrong” policies.
Leaders of national parties converged here to express their solidarity with the struggle launched by the TDP.
The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda; Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh; Indian National Lok Dal president Om Prakash Chautala; the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi; CPI deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy; MDMK representative Ganesh Murthy; RSP leader Abani Roy and others attended the meeting.
Farmers' suicides
Lamenting the “distressing spectacle” of suicides by farmers, Mr. Karat said that as many as 17,368 farmers committed suicide in 2009 alone, reflecting the failure of the government to come to their rescue.
Mr. Naidu advised Congress MPs to launch an indefinite strike in support of the demands raised by farmers who were facing the worst-ever crisis during the current year following a series of calamities.
He recalled how the Congress leaders prevented discussions on agriculture crisis in the Legislative Assembly by insisting on a solution to the cases registered against students during the pro-Telangana and Samaikhyaandhra agitations. The government, he said, scrapped all the cases within a day of the MPs launching fast.
Mr. Naidu recalled how he was prompted to launch an indefinite fast after several efforts to convince the government to concede the demands of farmers went in vain.
The TDP president demanded that the government implement the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission on farmers, who were facing steep rise in the costs of inputs while the returns on their investments remained almost the same.
“The Andhra Pradesh government's assurance to give loans at 3 per cent interest rate remained on paper as a major section of farmers are not covered under the scheme,” he said.
“Eyewash”
Mr. Deve Gowda said the Rs. 400 crore announced by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh as advance plan amount was “peanuts and eyewash,” which would not serve any purpose.
The Centre should declare therecent heavy rains as a national calamity to make good the farmers' losses.
Mr. Chautala said that though the Group of Ministers recommended payment of Rs. 10,000 an acre as compensation to farmers hit by calamities, it remained on paper.
Mr. Ajit Singh said that though the agriculture sector was witnessing rapid strides, the lot of farmers continued to remain miserable.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)
