Bharat Bandh: Protests galore in Warangal

Warangal: The Bharat Bandh, a nationwide shutdown call opposing the Centre's recently enacted farm laws, was successful in the erstwhile Warangal district with all the political parties except the BJP taking to streets accusing the Central government of mortgaging the lives of farmers to the corporate houses.

It may be noted here that with the TRS government supporting the farmers' cause, all its people's representatives actively campaigned for the success of bandh for the last two days. The TRS' campaign was led by Ministers – Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Satyavathi Rathod. Ministers, legislators and other people's representatives laid siege to the highways at various places in the erstwhile Warangal district.

At Madikonda on Tuesday, a suburban village of the city, Errabelli Dayakar Rao along with MLC Kadiyam Srihari and Wardhannapet MLA Aroori Ramesh organised 'vanta varpu' (cooking on roads) on national highway 163. Speaking at the protest, the Minister explained about the losses the farmers were going to face with the implementation of the three farm bills introduced by the Centre. "While the TRS government is trying its best to provide support to the farming sector, the Centre has other ideas," Errabelli said, referring to the Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and irrigation facilities provided to the farmers in Telangana. "We will take this protest to Delhi streets if the Centre fails to roll back the farm bills," Errabelli said.

At Mulugu crossroads in the city, Government Chief Whip D Vinay Bhaskar led the protest and demanded the Centre to withdraw the farm bills that were detrimental to the interests of the farmers.

Elsewhere in Mahabubabad, led by Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod, a large number of TRS workers took out a bike rally, in support to the Bharat Bandh. Riding pillion while Mahabubabad MLA B Shankar Naik drove a motorcycle, Rathod went to Narsampet Road Chowrastha where they staged a protest. Rathod demanded the Centre to withdraw the three farm bills immediately as they were aimed at benefiting the corporate houses.

A huge rally was organized in Warangal under the auspices of Congress party. The rally was headed by Congress district president Naini Rajender Reddy. The activists closed shopping malls in the city asking them to extend support to the bharat bandh.

The Congress cadres led by District Congress Committee President Naini Rajender Reddy took out a massive bike rally in Hanamkonda. Reddy expressed fear that the farm bills will turn farmers into labourers. He also found fault with the Centre for weakening the public sector units such as BSNL.

"The farm bills were aimed at benefiting bigwigs like Ambanis, Adanis and others. Even though BJP's ally Shiromani Akali Dal, and nearly 18 Opposition parties were opposing the farm bills, the Centre acted unilaterally," he said.

Meanwhile, all the RTC buses remained off the roads in support of the farmers' bandh. By and large, all the business establishments remained closed till late afternoon.