Maharashtra Congress protests on BJP government's 4th anniversary

The Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday staged protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government's fourth anniversary celebrations, accusing the ruling alliance of complete failure on various fronts.

Maharashtra Youth Congress President Satyajeet Tambe and other leaders organized many 'yoga' agitations to draw attention to people's plight in the face of the unfulfilled promises made by the BJP governments at the Centre and the state.

"The BJP-Sena government understands only the language of yoga, so we have launched this 'aasana' (yoga) protest to highlight the sufferings of the people under their rule because of inflation, unemployment, farmers' distress, plummeting growth rate and other issues," Tambe said at a protest rally in Aurangabad.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam fired a fresh salvo at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said the entire state is paying for the government's follies on different counts.

"In 2017, 4,356 women were raped in the state including 20 per cent in Mumbai, besides in the past three years 12,689 were raped, 35,347 molested and 18,378 kidnapped, 4,547 children were sexually assaulted and 23,826 children kidnapped in the state. What exactly is Fadnavis proud of his four years in power?" Nirupam questioned.

He said merely installing 5,000 more CCTVs in Mumbai will not halt the crime rate and serious measures are needed to ensure protection for children, women and senior citizens.

Criticising the mishandling of the farmland crisis, Nirupam said over 15 months have passed since the announcement of the mega-farm loan waiver scheme of Rs.34,000-crore which was intended to benefit 80 lakh farmers.

"However, so far barely 40 lakh farmers have benefited with the waiver of only Rs 16,498 crore, and thousands of farmers have committed suicide under the present BJP-Sena regime," he said.

Nirupam also slammed the state government on over half a million unsold flats in Mumbai as a direct fallout of the demonetization in November 2016 following by Goods & Services Tax implementation, which had spelt doom for the realty sector.

Paying tributes to Indira Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on their anniversaries, Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan said: "The tallest statue in the world is being inaugurated by those who make tall, false claims and the height of the statue compares with the depth of their thoughts."

Referring to the 2019 elections, he said the BJP came to power with barely 30 percent vote share as 70 of the opposition votes were divided and now the Congress will strive to ensure this does not recur.

--IANS

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