Congress MP A Revanth Reddy's much-publicised Rajiv Rythu Bharosa Yatra, a 140-km-long padayatra he had launched to protest the Centre's new farm Acts, ended yesterday.
Speaking to the media about the yatra, Reddy today credited AICC chief Sonia Gandhi for giving him the idea to organise a protest in Achampet, in support of the farmers seeking the withdrawal of the three controversial laws, and added that the Achampet demonstration was turned into a padayatra following the suggestions of his fellow party leaders, including Mallu Ravi and MLA Seethakka.
"I am glad to note that thousands of people from the Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy districts extended their support to my protest march. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet too many people as the march was held without any prior planning," he added.
Lashing out at the Centre for implementing the three laws in an "unconstitutional" way, the MP said, "Agriculture is in the state list under the Constitution. So, the state governments of the nation have every right to reject the Centre's new farm legislations, especially since the laws will be hugely detrimental to the nation's farmers."
(Although agriculture is indeed a state subject, a provision in the Concurrent List, Entry 33, enables both the Centre and the state governments to monitor and control the manufacture, supply and distribution of the products of any industry including agriculture.)
He also expressed his displeasure at the Telangana government's decision to welcome the laws, and alleged that the state's grain procurement centres were being shut down as a result of the decision.
Reddy then addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding the union government's privatisation of various major PSUs in the country.
"The Centre's decision to disinvest in India's PSUs is plain cruel. Although it claims that this helps reduce losses, the Centre has, in reality, been forced to bear losses of about Rs 1.35 lakh crore incurred by the MNCs in India. Its decisions clearly demonstrate that the Centre has been implementing a series of flawed policies. The farm laws are the most obvious example of this - the Indian government has simply handed over the rights of the farmers to big corporates. Of course, our own CM is no different, and has supported the Centre in its bid to do so. While he has not even waived the farmers' loans, his is now deserting them openly by embracing the farm Acts," he alleged.
(Recently, Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had also
slammed the Telangana government for allegedly "cheating" the farmers of the state.)
Meanwhile, many political analysts pointed out that the conspicuous absence of the party's bigwigs, including N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Manickam Tagore, from the public meeting organised at Raviryal to signal a grand end to Revanth Reddy's yatra seemed to suggest that the party's high command was unhappy with him for embarking on the march in the first place