Accusing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of not fulfilling the promises made to farmers and curbing incidents of violence against women, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday protested inside and outside the Assembly.
As soon as the proceedings began, Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said he had given an adjournment notice for a discussion on farmers’ issues and rising crimes against women in the State.
Mr. Fadnavis criticised the crop loan waiver announced by the government, saying in two months only 15,000 farmers were its beneficiaries. “If this is the speed of implementation, it will take 470 months to clear the debt of 35 lakh farmers,” he said.
The ruling parties, before coming to power, demanded ₹25,000 per hectare for crop losses and current Finance Minister Ajit Pawar even assured ₹1 lakh per hectare, Mr. Fadnavis said.
Speaker Nana Patole said while the issue is of importance, the House has other important business lined up as well. Mr. Patole said the issue of crimes against women is listed in the Calling Attention notice in the day’s business and a special discussion on women’s safety is scheduled for March 5.
Dissatisfied with the response, BJP members entered the well of the House and shouted slogans against the government. Women MLAs of the BJP wore black aprons emblazoned with slogans against the MVA government. Amid the sloganeering, Mr. Patole continued with the question hour.
Meanwhile, Sports Minister and Congress leader Sunil Kedar hit out at the BJP saying not a single member of the party joined him when he held a Sadbhavna Fast at Wardha after a woman lecturer was burnt by a stalker in Hinganghat. “It is easy to just shout slogans,” he said.
Repeated adjournments
As the sloganeering continued, Mr. Patole adjourned the House for 15 minutes and after it resumed, the presiding officer adjourned it again for another 15 minutes. The House was then adjourned for the day after clearing an important Bill on holding sarpanch elections.
The BJP also protested outside the Assembly. Mr Fadnavis said the protests will continue outside tehsil offices till farmers get justice.
By evening, a delegation of BJP leaders met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari claiming to have submitted over 52,000 letters from the farmers against the MVA government’s ‘fake’ crop loan waiver scheme.