BSP legislators to pay relief to U.P. farmers

Mayawati assigns the task to party MPs, legislators

To reach out to farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has directed the MPs and legislators of the party to distribute their one month’s salary to distressed farmers in their constituencies. They will pay the money directly to the affected farmers rather than route it through any official agency.

“It will bring immediate relief to farmers and will discourage them from taking extreme measures like suicide in the absence of relief from the Central and the State governments,” the BSP president said on Sunday.

Ms. Mayawati’s directives come a day after Revenue and Irrigation Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav appealed to Ministers and MLAs to donate one month’s salary to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the farmers affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorm. Mr. Yadav took the lead in making the donation. But the BSP president has taken an independent line from that of the senior Uttar Pradesh Minister, whose appeal was mainly made to the ruling Samajwadi Party functionaries. In her directives to the party MPs and legislators, Ms. Mayawati stressed direct contact with the farmers’ families.

Referring to the nationwide agitation by the BSP on farmers’ issues, Ms. Mayawati said that in the first phase of the programme on April 27, demonstrations would be held at all district headquarters in the State.

She lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for going on “foreign tours” when the farmers were either dying of shock or committing suicide on account of crop loss. Some Ministers were getting photographs of their visits to the farms published in newspapers even as no steps have been taken to provide immediate relief. The massive devastation of crops had taken the lid off the crop insurance scheme. “Though crop insurance was widely publicised, the affected farmers are unable to get compensation,” she said.

The BSP president said instead of worrying about providing succour to the families of affected farmers, the Prime Minister wanted Bharatiya Janata Party MPs to tell people about his foreign visit.