Leaders of the farmers’ associations in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday floated a committee to protect the interest of the farmers and promote unity among them under the leadership of former Agriculture Minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao. At a roundtable conference organised in the Vijayawada Press Club, they declared Mr. Sobhanadreeswara Rao as convenor of the Raithanga Parirakshana Vedika (RPV).
Mr. Rao said the farmers were facing a different kind of threat to their existence. The government that should protect them was itself taking away their land by force. The Central government was too eager to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnerships (RCEP) agreements that were more dangerous than the WTO agreement.
The farmers and the agricultural workers were facing the worst crisis ever and things were only going to get worse if the M.S. Swaminathan Commission recommendations were not implemented, he said.
The RPV would be holding a national-level meeting to promote awareness among the farmers on how these important issues would impact their future, Mr. Rao said. National leader Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhusan had given their consent to attend the meeting to be held either on September 16 or 23. Since it was the rainy season, it would be organised in an auditorium.
K. Vijay Rao, Delhi-based businessman and son of former Union Minister K.L. Rao, speaking as the chief guest, said the farmers were afraid and had become uninterested. Farmers’ associations that were ideologically divided were causing a rift among the farmers. It was very important to unite the farmers he said and added that he would go to the villages from September 1 to explain to them the threat they were facing.
Those affected by the forcible land acquisition in Vamsadhara, Bhogapuram, Garikaparru and Thunduru would be invited to the conference, Mr. Sobhanadreeswara Rao said.
Raithanga Samakhya president Yerneni Nagendranath, CPI(M) Rythu Sangham secretary Y Kesava Rao, Bharaitya Kisan Sangh secretary J Kumaraswamy and Rajadhani Farmers Association leader Anumolu Gandhi took an active part in the conference.
The round table condemned the “attack” by some people claiming to be farmers on Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh and Mr. Gandhi who were campaigning against the destruction of the Krishna floodplains as part of the Krishna River Conservation Yatra.
