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Veteran RSS pracharak from Gujarat leads protest against Modi govt

New Delhi, Oct 12: A veteran RSS pracharak from Gujarat has turned rebel against the BJP government and has termed it as ’anti-peasant’.

Leading a farmers’ agitation outfit ‘Kisan Kranti Manch’ and chanting betrayal slogans against BJP is Lalji Bhai Patel, who has been in RSS for over 50 years. He is currently associated with the publicity section of the economic wing of the RSS, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

However, his decision to rebel against the BJP government is because of its ’betrayal to farmers’, he says. "Narendra Modi had promised (before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls) that he would ensure farmers got one-and-a-half times more than their input cost, but nothing has been done. Farmers are being crushed," Lalji Bhai told the media.

He questioned why the government is not announcing a loan waiver for farmers while more than Rs 1.73 lac crore in bank loans taken by 12 industrial houses have been waived in Gujarat.

He said that Modi government’s crop insurance scheme was faulty as farmers were paying premium but were not getting enough coverage. More than 3.5 lac farmers in Gujarat have quit agriculture and more than 13 lac hectares of farmland in the state was lying uncultivated, he said.

Lalaji tried his best to get Bharatiya Kisan Sangh to protest but as they did not agree he floated ‘Kisan Kranti Manch’. Though RSS and the BJP sent representatives trying to convince him, he decided not to budge. He adds that he was refused permission to protest in Ahmedabad and was allowed only to submit a memorandum.

Lalaji alleged that Modi was "anti-RSS" and practised "pseudo Hindutva". He called Modi an ‘anti-farmer’ and said he bluffs about helping the poor and his true intention is only to help corporates.

Lalaji said that BJP will learn its lesson only when it loses the elections.

The Gujarat government is being run from Delhi by Narendra Modi. RSS leadership is also upset with the "autocratic" style of functioning of the Centre but is tolerating everything because of "anti-Congressism", he claims.

As a next step, Lalaji plans to travel across state to build a farmers’ agitation.