BJP national general secretary Gopinath Munde, who is currently on a tour of Wardha, has promised a full loan waiver for the region’s farmers if his party is voted back to power in the coming elections.
He has also promised to make land title of the farmers completely free of any encumbrances, and stop power cuts within two years of coming to power.
Munde kicked off the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra with a Kisan Sangharsh Yatra (KSY) at the Dorli village in Wardha district of Vidarbha, which is one of the six cotton-growing farmer-suicide stricken districts in the region.
The choice of Dorli village, whose population is not more than 300, was a careful one — the village had hit the national headlines three years ago when it had advertised itself as the village for sale. Since then this village has seen a number of VIP visits, including Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who visited the village in September last year.
Munde will tour the 14 cotton-growing districts of Maharashtra during his Kisan Sangharsh Yatra in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Northern Maharashtra over the next 10 days. This is also an attempt by Munde to retain BJP-Shiv Sena’s upper hand in these three regions. During the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the combine had won 22 out of 25 seats in these 14 districts.
However, Munde’s visit did not amuse the villagers. In a memorandum addressed to Munde, they accused the BJP of paying lip-service to the cause of farmers during its rule at the Centre and in the state.
One of the villagers, Mohan Halulae, said, “In last three years, we saw a number of VIPs come to our village, including Rahul Gandhi and the chief minister, but nothing has changed for us. We don’t know what change Munde is going to make in our lives.”