Activist Manoj Jarange Patil
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Having brought the government to its knees on the Maratha reservation issue, Manoj Jarange Patil on Thursday put forward an eight-point charter for farmers which include blanket loan waiver by Diwali else threatened to launch an agitation.
“Don’t elect anyone in the local bodies elections if the demands are not met,” he said amid thunderous applause.
“We have succeeded in getting reservation…however, now I would like to appeal to the Maratha community to become ‘shashak’ and ‘prashasak’…this will help the community in a long run,” said an emotional Jarange Patil addressing a mega-rally at Narayangad in the Beed district of Maharashtra.
Jarange Patil, who was admitted to hospital, was brought to the venue in an ambulance and later taken back to treatment after the rally. Looking weak, Jarange Patil could barely stand and walked with support of people.
His demand for farmers came in the backdrop of unseasonal rains in Maharashtra during which 60 lakh hectares of standing crops and agriculture fields were ravaged by flash floods.
“We demand that wet drought be declared immediately and compensation is extended to farmers,” he said, adding that Rs 70,000 per hectare compensation should be given to farmers whose crops were damaged as Rs 1.30 lakh hectares to those who lost the crops as well as fields because of being near to rivers. Besides, compensation must be 100 per cent for those who lost cattle, utensils, and houses.
“The government must declare a complete loan waiver by Diwali. Besides, government jobs must be given to one family members of the farmers who had died by suicide in the last 20 years,” he said.