Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi President Prakash Ambedkar
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Social harmony is being disturbed, and communal tensions are being ignited to divert the attention from real issues in Maharashtra and reap political gains, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi founder-President Prakash Ambedkar said slamming the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maha Yuti dispensation.
Ambedkar, the 70-year-old lawyer, activist and politician who is the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of Constitution of India, is a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Akola and one-term Rajya Sabha MP.
“Maharashtra’s current debt stock is more than Rs 9 lakh crore. If Maharashtra’s debt is divided, each citizen owes Rs 72,761,” he said in the wake of details emerging from the Economic Survey 2024-25 and State Budget 2025-26.
On the issue of farmers suicides, he said, “From 2015 to 2019, over 12,600 farmers died by suicide in Maharashtra. By 2023, around seven farmers were dying every day. There have been 2,635 farmer suicides in Marathwada and Vidarbha in 2024.”
He mentioned that recently, Kailash Nagare, a 2020 Young Farmer Award recipient, died by suicide, citing government negligence in a note he left behind.
“Farmers are forced to sell well below the MSP; soybean selling at Rs 3,400-3,900 per quintal, which is well below the MSP; cotton Rs 6,200-6,300 per quintal, again well below the MSP,” he said.
On crime against women and children rising in Maharashtra, he said that in 2024 the overall number of crimes against women was 46,459 and crime against children was 22,578.
Ambedkar pointed out atrocities against Scheduled Castes in Maharashtra have recorded a significant rise, from 1,947 cases in 2018 to 2,743 in 2022, a growth of approximately 40.8 per cent in four years.
He mentioned the custodial death of Somnath Suryawanshi, who was arrested after the violence in Parbhani.
“The Vigilance and Monitoring Committee in Maharashtra, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has convened only once since 2018, despite a legal mandate requiring the panel to meet twice a year,” he said.