AP Farmers Federation stages protest in support of Tamil Nadu ryots

Vijayawada: Former Minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao alleged that the pro-corporate Modi government is not heeding to the grievances of farmers in the country. He expressed anguish over the attitude of the Prime Minister for not giving appointment to Tamil Nadu farmers who staged protests in Delhi.

Addressing a protest meeting conducted to express their solidarity with Tamil Nadu farmers at Lenin Centre here on Tuesday, Sobhanadreeswara Rao said the Narendra Modi government in Centre had waived loans of industrialists worth around Rs 1.16 lakh crore and the loans worth around Rs 6 lakh crore were declared as non-performance assets (NPA). The total loan dues of industrialists reached up to Rs 28 lakh crore, he pointed out.

At the same time, the Modi government did not release input subsidy to farmers even as it is just Rs 10,000 per farmer, he lamented. “Both the Union and state governments are intentionally ignoring the difficulties being faced by the farmers as part of their pro-corporate polices,” he said.

The former Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the income of farmers would be doubled within two or three years but he did nothing to fulfil his promise. He also asked why the Union government did not take steps for the implementation of Swaminathan Committee recommendations if it was sincere over the problems of farmers.

The response of governments was very unfortunate over the drought prone regions in 10 states even as people were facing difficulties to find drinking water and grass to their cattle. Former MLAs Malladi Vishnu, Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, farmers federation leaders Yerneni Nagendranath, M V S Nagireddy, Koalanukonda Sivaji, Y Kesava Rao, Kumaraswami and others participated.