Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) staged a 'Maha Dharna' along with other ministers at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday, 11 April, to protest against the central government's paddy procurement policy.
KCR, the founder and leader of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), has asked all ministers and workers of the party to join the protest, as they accused the Centre, accusing Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, of practising discrimination.
"Is growing paddy Telangana farmers' fault? Is it a sin? I warn PM Modi that he can mess with anyone but not the farmers. Indian history is a testament that wherever farmers cried, government lost power. Nobody is permanent... When in power, don't treat farmers unfairly."Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
'One Nation, One Procurement' Policy
The state's demand from the Centre is that paddy should be grown during the rabi season and yielded from Telengana under the National Food Security Act.
"Food grains production has doubled in the state, but the Centre is not purchasing it," party leader G Ranjit Reddy told The Times Of India.
Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait during a sit-in protest against Centres paddy procurement policy, in New Delhi.
(Photo: PTI/Atul Yadav)
The TRS supremo KCR maintained that while the central government obtains a huge supply of paddy and wheat from Punjab and Haryana, the same does not happen in Telangana.
"The chief minister is suffering from toothache and there is a heat wave in New Delhi, but we are hopeful that he will attend the dharna at least for a short period and deliver a message to farmers about the importance of ‘one nation, one procurement' policy," a TRS leader told TOI.
The party is staging the protest with the goal to expose the government's attitude towards farmers from Telangana.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to deliver his promise of doubling income of farmers by 2022. On the contrary, farmers are not able to even get back their investment," Vinod Kumar, Telangana State Planning Board vice-chairman, said, reported TOI.
He added that other party leaders have not been invited so as to not dilute the issue and the cause of farmers that TRS is standing up for.
(With inputs from India Today and TNN.)
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