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Big farmers behind agitation: Raje

Special Correspondent

BJP organises counter rally in Sriganganagar village

JAIPUR: In what was meant to be a "political reply'' to the farmers' agitation for irrigation water in the north Rajasthan districts, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday organised a public meeting in Banda village of Anupgarh tehsil in Sriganganagar district. Barring few instances of thwarted attempts to show black flags by the agitating farmers, the event passed off peacefully.

The Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti, the body spearheading the farmers agitation in the Indira Gandhi Canal Project Phase I area, had organized a sit- in near Gharsana on August 1 and this rally, a counter show of strength by the ruling party, was meant to surpass that meeting in attendance. The August 1 meeting had the support of the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The meeting, addressed by the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, and the former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma, in unequivocal terms said the Government would not "tolerate the mischief of a group of trouble makers''. "I will not compromise with the common man's safety and dignity. I need your support to fight this battle. These are difficult times,'' Ms.Raje said in her 20 minute speech.

No one from the speakers, who included the State president of the BJP, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, eight ministers of the Raje Cabinet, MPs, zila pramukhs of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh, spoke of any need for a negotiated settlement with the agitating farmers.

Reiterating her commitment on water, Ms.Raje said the Government would, by all means, protect the interests of the poor farmers. "The Government wants to ensure the rightful share of water even to the farmer at the tail-end of the canal,'' she said. Ms.Raje alleged the role of big farmers and those who have encroached upon the land of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the poor farmers in the agitation. "We will not let anyone to create a law and order problem,'' she asserted.

Ms.Raje blamed the successive Congress Governments in Rajasthan for the inter-State water agreements in 1981 and 1984 which were not in the interest of the State. "Why don't the persons who lead agitations for water here go and talk to the Government at the Centre? It is the Congress Government in Punjab which is holding back the Rajasthan's share of water,'' she alleged.

Ms.Raje said she had no ego problems with the people and was willing to look into their issues. The supply of water had been regular in the area and the good mustard harvest this season and good sowing of cotton now were a testimony to that, she said.

The Congress and the CPI(M) here alleged large-scale misuse of the Government machinery for the meeting. "In the absence of local support, the Government machinery was used to bring people from outside. The Government employees and policemen in mufti were made part of the audience,'' Ramakant Sharma, general secretary of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee said in a statement. "By not agreeing to the demands of the farmers, the Government has created an atmosphere of tension in the concerned districts,'' he charged.

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Big farmers behind agitation: Raje

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