9 SEPT
Vidarbha (Maharashtra): Cotton farmers from Vidharbha's suicide belt travelled miles to attend the Cotton Conference in Akola. It was a big occassion for them, as both the Chief Minister and Union Textile Minister Shanker Sinh Wagehela were attending the conference.
They had hoped that the state government would announce some relief for them, but to their dismay, all they got was criticism.
Union Textile Minister, Shanker Sinh Waghela said: " Farmers in Gujarat also have tobacco, and they go to the the fields after that and work, but in Vidarbha, the farmers just laze around."
While the farmers who attended the conference were still coming to grips with the Textile Minister's comments, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh landed the next blow.
He accused the farmers of duplicity, saying: "They add water and stones to increase the weight of the cotton and earn more."
The ministers' comments have left famers deeply angered and a sense of betrayal is quite evident.
Says a farmer, Nathu Jadhav, "Whatever the Chief Minister has said is wrong."
Adds another farmer, Sanjay Gulhane, "Instead of doing something about the sucides, they are wrongly accusing the farmers."
Over 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in Vidharbha in the past five years. Despite a Rs 3,750 crore package announced by the Prime Minister last year, the situation on the ground remains unchanged.
And the Chief Minister's rebuke to the farmers could only serve to increase their disillusionment.
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