Gujarat farmers feel neglected, demonstrators baton charged

Gandhinagar, Feb 23 (ANI): Police here on Thursday baton charged and fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting farmers, who took out a rally against the Modi-led Gujarat government over its failure to provide basic facilities.

Supported by the state unit of the Gujarat Congress, the farmers held a massive rally against the state government.

Speaking at the rally, president of state unit of Congress party, Arjun Modhwadia slammed the Modi government saying that he was busy pleasing the industrialists and failed to address the woes of the poor.

"The BJP government in Gujarat has spent the entire budget and the 10.36 million rupees debt on the industrialists and on the political programmes of the chief minister. Instead of spending the money on the land, education and welfare of the poor, the chief minister has given 140 crore square metre land to the industrialists," Modhwadia said.

Modhwadia further said that they would meet Narendra Modi and give him a charter of demands of the farmers.

He hailed the work done by the Congress party for the farmers during their rule and added that his party was involved in any kind of corrupt practices.

"We will go to the chief minister with a charter of demands and tell him that Gujarat is of the Gujarati people and not of your beloved industrialists. The corruption you did to benefit the industrialists be immediately stopped and the assistance of good electricity supply and land that the farmers used to get in the Congress regime be restored," said Modhwadia. (ANI)