Pro-Vidarbha activists to burn Modi effigies on Dec 7

Nagpur: Members of the Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti (VRAS) said they will burn effigies of PM Narendra Modi and Union MoS Nityanand Rai on December 7 in every district of Vidarbha to protest against the Centre’s failure to carve out a separate state of Vidarbha.
In the current session of Parliament, the government made it clear that there was no proposal to form a separate Vidarbha.
Addressing the media on Saturday, VRAS said that before the 2014 general assembly polls, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari had given in writing that if voted to power, the saffron party shall create Vidarbha state.
VRAS members say even though BJP rode to power once again in 2019, they went back on their promise about Vidarbha. VRAS president VS Chatap said, “On December 7, in every district of Vidarbha, our members will burn effigies to draw their attention towards this issue.”
VRAS went on to say that in 1997 itself, BJP in its party convention in Vidarbha had taken up the issue.
A statement issued by VRAS says the Maharashtra government is heavily indebted and there’s no way they can complete their obligations towards Vidarbha. The pro-Vidarbha activists say the irrigation backlog of Vidarbha is so massive that the debt-laden state coffers will never be able to complete pending projects. “In such a scenario, it will be best for Vidarbha to be a separate state,” said the statement signed by Chatap.
Others pro-Vidarbha leaders like Ranjana Marmade, Arun Kedar, Mukesh Masurkar, Vishnupant Ashtekar, Sreenivas Khandewale, PKB Chakraborty, Tatya Matte, M Bhagwant and Kapil Iddhe were present.