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Journalism of Courage
Months before the Lok Sabha election, former MP and Maharashtra-based farm leader Raju Shetti and his one-time votary Ravikant Tupkar have embarked on agitations to get justice for farmers but separately.
Tupkar, who has gone public about his differences with Shetti, has decided to launch an apolitical movement to get justice for soyabean, cotton and paddy farmers. From October 25 to 30, Tupkar will visit several areas in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions to gather farmers under one banner.
Terming this as the need of the hour, Tupkar said he is still with the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana — the farmers’ body started by Shetti.
While talking to The Indian Express, Tupkar said this year soyabean, cotton and paddy growers have complained of very low per acre yields. “Due to the break in monsoon, yields are low and most farmers would not be able to recover their cost of production,” he said.
“While the state government has promised to pay 25 per cent of the insurance cover, it is yet to materialise,” he added.
Asked why the apolitical nature of the outreach, Tupkar said it is necessary as otherwise farmers would not be able to unite. “Farmers generally have differences of opinion when it comes to politics — we can’t fight together if politics enters this,” he said.
Tupkar’s announcement comes in the backdrop of Shetti starting his padyatra across three districts of Maharashtra to force sugar mills to pay Rs 400 extra per tonne of cane crushed.
Shetti is slated to cover more than 300 km with his supporters torching cane carrying trucks and stopping the transport of sugar from the mills. While most of the second rung leadership of the farmer’s organisation are present, Tupkar is conspicuous by his absence. Many leaders of the outfit said Tupkar is trying to build his own image before the election post which, he will make his move.
On his part, Tupkar said he was very much with the Sanghatana and had no desire to part with it. “The badge of the Sanghatana is always on my chest and I will not part with it any time. But for this movement to evolve into a mass movement, I have urged all parties to keep their differences aside and work for the benefit of the farmers,” he said.
While the sugar belt of Maharashtra has seen such experiments of bringing farmers under one roof, the larger cotton, soyabean and paddy belts have not seen such efforts.
Political affiliations have been more powerful than farm issues for the majority of the farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions which are the main cotton, soyabean and paddy belts of the state.
Sharad Joshi, the late farm leader, had tried to unite the farmers under one banner but his experiment was only partially successful.
In Maharashtra Tupkar’s visits would be the third in the run up to the election. Already NCP MLA Rohit Pawar has started his padyatra from Pune to Nagpur to highlight the issues of the youth.
