Latur/Solapur (Maharashtra, Nov 13 (IANS ) The Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to break up the country’s unity through inflammatory slogans in the ongoing Maharashtra Assembly elections campaign, here on Wednesday.
Speaking at poll rallies in Latur and Solapur districts, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called upon the gathering to raise chants of ‘Hum Sab Ek Hain’ and the crowds responded enthusiastically.
“Look… We are all strongly united. It's the BJP which is trying to divide us with slogans of ‘Ek hain to safe hain’ or ‘batenge to katenge’, attempting to sow discord among the people… But the people of Maharashtra will foil such moves by voting out the (MahaYuti) government,” thundered Kharge.
He said that for its divisive tendencies and insulting Dr B. R. Ambedkar by burning a copy of the Constitution which he had architected, “the people of the state must teach them a strong lesson”.
“The country is one and united, but the BJP leaders are misleading the masses by raising slogans like ‘batenge to katenge’. Nobody from the BJP-RSS has ever laid down their lives for the country, but three Congress leaders made the supreme sacrifice for the nation. Now, the masses will give the BJP a befitting reply next week,” Kharge declared.
He reiterated that the BJP-RSS are actively working to destroy the Constitution through falsehoods and making fake claims of its achievements in Maharashtra, which the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has exposed in the past few years.
“The soybean and cotton farmers are not getting the minimum support prices they deserve here… Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looting the agriculturists by levying GST on farming inputs instead of increasing the remuneration for the distressed soybean and cotton growers,” Kharge pointed out.
He recalled how Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had promised to accord MSP of Rs 6000/quintal for soybeans but never implemented it.
Kharge said that in 2021, the soybean prices had touched Rs 10,000/quintal, and the MSP is Rs 4892/quintal now but the farmers are forced to sell it at much lower rates of around Rs 42,00/quintal, thus adding to their woes despite getting a good yield, and spurring suicides.
“The farmers of Marathwada and Vidarbha are deeply worried about the falling prices of soybean and cotton, but the PM has imposed GST on at least 35 agricultural items, promised to farmers to double their income, but did not increase MSP or the tillers’ incomes. The BJP regimes at the Centre and state are anti-farmers and have cheated them with hollow assurances,” slammed Kharge.
Taking up the MVA Manifesto, he assured that after the alliance assumes power, it will immediately take up the cause of the suffering farmers, women, youth, senior citizens, unemployed, the ill and other sections of society earnestly to provide them relief.
Telangana Minister Uttak Kumar Reddy, ex-state Ministers Amit Deshmukh, Dilip Deshmukh and Dheeraj Deshmukh, MPs and other senior MVA leaders were present on the occasion.