Mumbai: Education minister Vinod Tawde’s tour to drought-affected Osmanabad turned dramatic when his personal assistant beat protestors of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), an ally of BJP. Angered with this incident, SSS leader Sadabhau Khot demanded the resignation of Mr Tawde and threatened to lodge a complaint with BJP president Amit Shah. Meanwhile, when ministers were on tour, two farmers committed suicide, one in Latur and Beed district each. Another, a woman farmer also attempted suicide in the Beed district.
According to the plan, women and child welfare minister Pankaja Munde was touring the Beed district, while other ministers, including chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were in the Latur district. Sanjay Jadhav from Ujani in Latur and Raghunath Jagtap in Beed committed suicide. Minister for environment Ramdas Kadam met Jadhav’s family. Archana Gawale also tried to commit suicide in the Beed district, but was saved by the villagers.
In a late update, Mr Khot, Mr Tawde and Raju Shetty had a discussion on the incident and decided to solve issue by discussion internally. They all decided to concentrate on issues in farmers’ interest. All ministers of the state are on tour of the three districts of the Marathwada region.
Mr Fadnavis has delegated responsibility of the 29 talukas to Cabinet ministers and ministers of state from Osmanabad, Beed and Latur districts. The ministers are expected file a ground report after the visits. Mr Tawde was touring Yedshi village in Osmanabad.
Protestors waved black flags in front of Mr Tawde and alleged that farmers were in distress as government schemes were not reaching those in need. During the protest, according to Mr Tawde’s staff, a glass bottle was thrown towards the minister, which hit the wall and broke into pieces. Santosh Surve, PA to Mr Tawde caught one the protesters and hit him.
Television grabs showed Mr Surve being at the forefront of a scuffle between two groups, which eventually led to the PA resorting to blows in the presence of police officials and Mr Tawde.
One of the protestors, who was hit by PA Surve said, “There has been the highest number of suicides in the district and farmers have received no help. Out of the Rs 1 lakh relief announced by the government, 70 per cent is deposited as fixed deposits and a farmer gets only 30 per cent.”
“While we only went there to convey our grievances to the minister, people from his entourage, along with his PA, started mercilessly hitting us. He had even picked up a stone to hit us, but we somehow saved. Eventually, Mr Tawde asked his PA to leave the tour,” he added.
Reacting to the incident, Mr Tawde said, “We had gone to a school to interact with children. Once we came out, one of the protesters threw a glass bottle at me, which eventually hit the school wall. Santosh Surve had only come forward to stop the protesters who made it seem like he hit them, which was not the case.”
Meanwhile, angered with this episode, Sadabhau Khot, leader of SSS said that power had got into their (BJP) head. He said, “We will not take this lying down. I will approach the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah and demand an immediate resignation from Mr Tawde. The BJP should not tolerate hooliganism,” he added.
He further said, “I have seen the whole episode. Farmers are not getting the right price for their milk and there is acute water shortage that has led to discomfort among farmers. These farmers had only gone to express their dissatisfaction to Mr Tawde carrying milk packets. One of the milk packets opened and some of it got spilled on the minister’s entourage. Their reaction following this was not right,” Mr Khot said.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress claimed that ministers has begun their day-long tour of 29 talukas of drought affected district amid of the upcoming Budget Session. Pointing out that there were 244 farmland suicides in January alone, leader of Opposition in state Assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil demanded a complete loan waiver and other relief measures for the farmers, in his public meetings.
