BJP says Maha govt imposed bandh on people by abusing official machinery; Fadnavis dubs protest as 'hypocrisy'

Hitting out at the Maha Vikas Aghadi government over the bandh in Maharashtra on Monday, the BJP claimed the three-party dispensations concern for farmers was pure hypocrisy and it imposed the shutdown using official machinery.Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said if the MVA government is so concerned about farmers, then it should first provide relief to those affected due to unseasonal rains in the states Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

Hitting out at the Maha Vikas Aghadi government over the bandh in Maharashtra on Monday, the BJP claimed the three-party dispensation’s concern for farmers was “pure hypocrisy” and it “imposed” the shutdown using official machinery.

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said if the MVA government is so concerned about farmers, then it should first provide relief to those affected due to unseasonal rains in the state's Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. The three ruling allies - Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP - called the statewide bandh to protest the recent killing of four farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district. Fadnavis said the Uttar Pradesh government is capable of taking action against those guilty in the Lakhmipur Kheri incident. But, farmers in Maharashtra are in deep distress, he pointed out.

Some 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in the state, and they have neither got loan waiver nor any kind of assistance from the state government, the former state chief minister claimed. “The bandh called by the Maha Vikas Aghadi is pure hypocrisy. If the government is really concerned about farmers, then it should declare immediate relief for farmers of Marathwada and Vidarbha,” Fadnavis said. “People are being forced to observe the bandh using police and administration,” he further claimed. Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said the bandh call was given by the NCP to divert attention from the Income Tax raids in the state. The I-T department last week conducted raids on entities close to Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar.

Patil claimed the bandh had failed and it got little response from people.

BJP MLA from Mumbai Ashish Shelar while talking to reporters claimed, “The bandh in Maharashtra was opposed by farmers, students, traders and the people, but the government imposed it on people by abusing the government machinery.'' Taking a dig at the MVA government in the state, Shelar said the word “bandh” is very dear to the ruling dispensation. He said people will teach the MVA government a lesson and “pack it off with full state honours”.

“The bandh was opposed by people, but government officials had been creating fear in the minds of people for a long time. The shutdown was imposed under police protection, so it is a government shutdown,” Shelar alleged. In Solapur, where NCP president Sharad Pawar called for a bandh, the market yard there started from early morning. Farmers brought their produce to the yard and sold it, the BJP leader said. In Mumbai's Dadar area, where the Shiv Sena Bhavan is located, agricultural produce arrived in the market and all transactions were done till 10 am, Shelar claimed. Due to the arrival and auction of agricultural produce in many agriculture mandis (markets) of the state, including Aurangabad, farmers of Maharashtra did not participate in the “hypocritical” bandh in the true sense of the word, he said.

In Satara, BJP MP Udayanraje Bhosale himself came out on a road and rode his bike, Shelar said, adding that all business transactions were underway in Shirdi town as well. The people, the farmers have answered (to the protest) by their actions, Shelar added.

Hitting out at the three ruling parties, BJP Trade Front president Pradeep Peshkar said the call for the statewide bandh by the MVA partners is akin to “rubbing salt on the wounds” of traders, who are still recovering from the losses suffered during the coronavirus- induced lockdown. PTI PR GK GK

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