Protests broke out across Telangana on Friday led by ministers and leaders from the state’s ruling TRS in response to party head and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao demanding paddy procurement by the Centre like in Punjab. Minister for information technology and municipal administration KT Rama Rao launched a blitz against the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership. “The Centre is selling all PSUs and refusing procurement of paddy stocks from the state,” he alleged.
In response to a call from the chief minister, popularly called KCR, several ministers and Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders stormed the districts and revenue offices and staged protests.
The TRS protests came a day after the state BJP held demonstrations before all the district collectorates, demanding that the state government procure the paddy from farmers completely, instead of blaming it on the Centre.
“The Centre has made it clear that it would purchase 60 lakh tonnes. It is the responsibility of the state to procure the remaining quantity,” state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
At the demonstration site in Sircilla, KT Rama Rao (KTR) lashed out at the Centre and BJP leaders in the state for “playing cheap politics”. “They cannot ignore the constitutional obligation to lift paddy and export from states,” he said. He found fault with the Centre and BJP leaders like Bandi Sanjay Kumar and others for adopting dual standards on paddy procurement.
The minister, who is the CM’s son, said it is shameful on the part of union ministers and the Centre to refuse to get paddy from Telangana. “When it comes to Punjab, the Centre takes paddy and Telangana it swiftly ignores,” he said. They say “Jai Kisan” when the Centre says “Nai Kisan” besides selling off public-sector undertakings (PSUs), said Rao. He said the ongoing farmers’ protest in parts of the country and disputes over power and water were due to bankrupt and lopsided policies of the Centre. The minister pointed out that India occupies a poor 102nd position on the Global Hunger Index, far behind Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The entire nation boasts of 40 crore acres and 65 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water, and half of the resources are sufficient to address the prevalent issues, he said. The minister asked the farmers to think about why they had to come onto the streets.
“Our farmers are growing about 3 crore tonnes of food grains as 11 other states copied our programmes, and the Centre too replicated our Rythu Bandhu scheme,” KTR claimed.
He asserted that only Telangana state gives Rs 10,000 per acre to each farmer through Rythu Bandhu, Rs 5 lakh insurance through Rythu Bhima and has irrigated lakhs of acres of barren lands by constructing the Kaleshwaram project. Sircilla region looks like a delta with abundant water as KCR built irrigation projects, he added. The TRS will continue its fight for farmers until the Centre procures paddy.
The minister hit out at Bandi Sanjay for allegedly misleading farmers. “The Centre cannot cheat and refuse to procure the grains,” he said, adding that the BJP leader supported the paddy issue in the state.
KTR accused the BJP of raking up Hindu-Muslim issues instead of indulging in constructive politics. “The Centre was ignorant of Telangana development and denied funds despite Niti Aayog recommendations towards Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya (water schemes),” he said.
State minister T Harish Rao accused the BJP leadership of cheating the farmers who cultivate parboiled paddy due to weather conditions. He demanded the Centre press officials to procure paddy from the state or face protests.
At Indira Park in Hyderabad, state animal husbandry and cinematography minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav addressed a protest programme. He warned that they have only started the “protest trailer” for now and will show the “full film” in future to the Centre.
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