Mumbai, Oct 16 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday attacked the Mahayuti government led by Devendra Fadnavis, labelling its festive financial assistance of Rs 5,000 for farmers and Rs 2,000 for Anganwadi workers as an “insult” to the working class.
It said that amid soaring inflation and widespread drought, the announced package is nothing short of a cruel joke. By announcing these as “Diwali gift, the Fadnavis government has “bankrupted its own intellect”.
The Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Samaana’, said that over 300 talukas in the state have been officially declared drought-hit, leaving rural families grappling with severe water shortages, failed kharif and rabi crops, and mounting debts. Instead of substantive relief, the administration is merely holding meetings and making empty declarations.
The editorial highlighted that the Rs 5,000 being distributed to farmers is not a special grant, but rather an advance drawn from funds expected from the Central government. It criticised the government for rebranding an advance payment as a benevolent “Diwali gift” to take undeserved credit.
Questioning how a family can celebrate a festival or buy basic essentials and clothing with such a small sum during a massive inflation wave, the editorial labelled the payout a mockery of the hardships faced by the agricultural community and Anganwadi workers. “How to rub salt into the wounds of the poor should be learned only from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The fire of drought is blazing. The lives of people and cattle are being scorched, and the government is making a dry rain of meetings and announcements on drought relief. Moreover, the whole affair is such that the helping hand is a span wide, but its publicity is a cubit wide,” remarked the editorial.
The editorial further stated that CM Fadnavis has done a great favour to the drought-affected people. “This bountiful assistance is being trumpeted so much that people might mistake this five-thousand figure for five lakhs. Fadnavis and his people must think that this five-thousand assistance will bring a tide of joy into the lives of farmers, make farming families happy, and sweeten their Diwali. If they think that 1.25 crore farmers will benefit from this five-thousand assistance, then they do not know the plight of the devastated farming brethren of rural Maharashtra,” it commented.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena drew a sharp contrast between the state’s financial allocations, pointing out that while districts receive hefty sums of Rs 50 lakh for events like the Sewa Sankalp Abhiyan, only nominal pittances are doled out to drought-stricken farmers and grassroots workers. “This is not assistance; it is a mockery of their plight and a cruel joke on the ongoing drought,” the editorial said, summing up the widespread discontent in rural Maharashtra.
–IANS
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