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Journalism of Courage
Bacchu Kadu, who heads the Prahar Janshakti Party which was earlier in alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena, courted controversy Monday after he asked farmers in Maharashtra not to end lives but instead ”kill” an MLA.
Kadu’s remarks came during a farmers’ conference in Paturda village in the Buldhana district, where Madhav Jankar of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha was also present on the dais along with others.
“Government is like the pig. We can tolerate pigs but can’t tolerate the government. Instead of ending their own lives, farmers should kill an MLA. Farmers have been left behind because they have been caught in caste fights not ideological ones,” said Kadu.
“The present government has divided farmers in colours like saffron, blue, green… Therefore, farmers have got divided. Farmers had defeated Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sharad Joshi and myself on the election turf. This is because we did not play caste politics,” he said.
The former Maharashtra minister said when morchas and rallies are taken out, there is huge rush. ”But when conferences are organised by farmers, they do not get the crowd,” he added.
Recently, Kadu held a protest fast in Nagpur, and after a government delegation met him and assured him, he had withdrawn his fast.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said Kadu is a farmer, and should “properly guide farmers instead of talking of resorting to violence”.
“Kadu should profess and practice the Gandhian way of non-violence and fasts which has brought several government to their knees. Violence is certainly not the solution to any problem.”
