BJP launches rally to highlight peasants plight

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kicked off a rally here today to highlight the plight of farmers in Maharashtra.

Vidarbha, Jan 10 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kicked off a rally here today to highlight the plight of farmers in Maharashtra.

The resurgent BJP, fresh from its double win in the recent Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections is keen to consolidate its electoral gains in the run-up to General Elections next year.

The two-day rally began from Sevagram near Nagpur and will criss-cross through the Vidarbha region, which is one of the state's worst affected areas, where distressed farmers have been driven to suicide on account of mounting debts.

Promising a slew of sops, including implementation of farm insurance income scheme and rural electrification, BJP President Rajnath Singh blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the plight of the farmers.

"Farmers and poor labourers in Vidarbha region and many states have been forced to commit suicide. I am of the opinion that the country is not safe under the rule of people under whom farmers and the most downtrodden sections of society are committing suicide," Rajnath Singh said.

He termed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special package announced last year for those affected in Vidarbha as "total failure".

Maharashtra tops the list of states where farmers' suicides are maximum followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The floods and drought affected farmers are often forced to commit suicide due to ruined crops and spiralling debts.

Farmer suicides have been on the rise since the late '90s due to poor harvests and trade liberalisation in India.

Poor irrigation, lack of cold storage and little access to foreign markets are major handicaps faced by farmers.

ANI