MVA clamour: Sack ‘insensitive’ Kokate

Mumbai: The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) again targeted Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate for his ‘insensitive’ comments against farmers and asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to sack him.

Maharashtra Congress President Harshawardhan Sapkal, Congress Legislative Party Leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Shiv Sena (UBT)’ farmer face Kishore Tiwari and others sought to know if Kokate was doing a ‘favour’ by giving aid to farmers from public funds.

“The ruling Mahayuti does not miss a single opportunity to deride the farmers who feed the people, and Kokate is so smitten with power and he keeps insulting the peasants constantly. First, he labelled them as ‘beggars’, now he accuses them of spending their loan waiver money on children’s engagements or weddings. He should be expelled from the cabinet,” demanded Sapkal.

Wadettiwar pointed out how unseasonal rains have damaged/destroyed crops of tur, grapes, onions and vegetables in Vidarbha and Maharashtra, but instead of rushing to aid the farmers, Kokate is maligning them in the time of need.

“Instead of sympathizing or understanding the farmers’ woes the Mahayuti ministers are adopting a hostile stance against them. The government has left the tillers in the lurch as the ruling alliance ministers feel that no one can touch them as they have won (the Assembly elections) with a majority,” said Wadettiwar sharply.

Tiwari alleged that the state government has thrown the concerns of the farmers and commoners to winds, while exhorting the authorities to conduct ‘panchnama’ of the affected farmlands and rush aid on priority.

“Since the Mahayuti  secured a brute majority, they have distanced themselves from the masses and want them to suffer, or let the farmers commit suicide, we shall not bother. If Kokate is not dismissed, the farmers will not allow him to move around in Vidarbha,” warned Tiwari.

Sapkal asserted how the Mahayuti’s poll promises to write off farmland debts remains unfulfilled and also remains uncertain now as the government is giving excuses that it has no funds for the loan waivers.

“When the government helps farmers, it is with public money and not Kokate’s private family resources. If the government’s policies had been in the interests of the tillers, they would not have depended on such aid from an anti-farmer regime that keeps slighting them frequently,” said Sapkal.

The state Congress chief said that when the Centre had written off bad loans worth Rs 16-lakh crore of a few industrialists, neither the Mahayuti nor Kokate had the guts to question it – an obvious reference to a report by The Perfect Voice (Jan. 23).

Recently, Fadnavis had instructed his cabinet team to be courteous while speaking in public, but the manner in which the ministers speak ‘nonsense’ indicates that they do not respect the CM, averred Sapkal.