New Delhi, February 11, 2008: The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), which has of late taken up farmers’ issues in several parts of the country, is planning to hold a rally in the Capital on 26 February, a day after the Budget session of Parliament kicks off.

The UNPA leaders expect the rally to be a big show of “strength”. They are likely to rake up farmers’ matters both inside and outside Parliament. The leaders of the regional parties’ alliance have held similar rallies in Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. The UNPA leaders want to bring agrarian issues to centre-stage during the budget session. The leaders, who have in the recent past shown closeness with the Left parties, have invited
them to join the rally. The Left is yet to respond.

The Centre, according to UNPA leaders, has utterly failed to address the farmers’ cause. Farmers have been rendered helpless and there has been a rise in suicides triggered by agrarian stress in various states due to the wrong policies of the government, even in Congress-ruled states like Haryana, they feel.

The UNPA leaders have also been targeting the Centre’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy, maintaining that the fertile land of farmers were being grabbed for the benefit of big business houses.

Top leaders of the UNPA, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Babulal Marandi, gathered at Sampla in Haryana yesterday to address a rally which was said to be preparatory to the Delhi rally. The leaders made a scathing attack on the Centre’s anti-farmer policies.

Source: The Statesman