Anger among farmers brewing, BJP govt will see protest in Jan: Cong leader

The recent farmer agitation may have ended but their anger is brewing and there will be another such protest against the BJP-led central government in January, a senior Congress leader has claimed.

On October 2, a large number of farmers attempted to enter the national capital from Uttar Pradesh to seek better prices and concessions, but were halted by police that fired water cannons and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.

National president of the Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress Nana Patole said farmers across the country are planning another agitation early next year to press their demands, including loan waiver.

The BJP has only given false promises and has betrayed farmers. The party has not fulfilled any of their promises, Patole, a farmer leader from Maharashtra's Vidharba region and a former BJP MP, said.

The BJP government quelled the farmer agitation at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border by using force against protesting farmers and giving them false assurances.

They will have to face another such agitation in January next year, as farmers across the country are unhappy, angry and agitated at this government's policies towards them. It has given the farmers nothing but false promises and betrayed them, he told PTI.

The Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress leader said his organisation would spearhead such an agitation early next year in support of the farmers' demands.

He claimed that anger among farmers was brewing and will come out in the form of a big agitation, as the government is not listening to their demands.

Patole said farmers feel harassed and cheated at the hands of this government.

The former BJP MP, who quit the ruling party to join the Congress a few months ago, claimed that farmers are agitated as more and more suicides are taking place.

He claimed that poor farmers are being caught in a web of farm loans and failure of crops, leading to a debt cycle, and there was no one to take care of them.

The Congress leader cautioned the government and said unless some serious efforts are made to bring the farmers out of the debt crisis, the anger of farmers will "blow up".

Citing the recent agitation on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, he said farmers vented out their anger and police had to resort to force to quell their agitation.

Patole called for early steps to address the farmers' grievances.