By P.S. Anantharaman
Ahmedabad, Sep 13 (IANS) A massive rally of farmers in Rajkot Friday is being billed as a “farmers mahasammelan (mass gathering)”, but in effect it is a campaign called to intensify opposition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi ahead of assembly elections.
Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gordhan Zadaphia said about 500,000 farmers are expected to attend the rally. Asked whether the figure was not on the high side, Zadaphia told IANS that the registered number of farmers in the state is 6.4 million.
Leader of Opposition Arjun Modhvadia said the meet would be a show of strength against the chief minister. Congress workers in Saurashtra who are farmers are expected to participate in the rally.
There would be no party affiliation in the meet.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for media coverage of the rally and a big media contingent from Delhi is expected to cover the event.
Zadaphia dismissed state BJP president Purshottam Rupala’s observations during a chat with news persons Tuesday that the doors were still open for talks with rebels as a statement of no consequence.
“As far as we are concerned there is no question of talks as long as Narendra Modi is at the helm of affairs in Gujarat. We have nothing against the party. We are only against Modi. This needs to be understood,” he said.
According to reports reaching here, on behalf of the rebels a massive campaign is on in Saurashtra to convince and bring as many farmers to the rally.
Saurashtra is the stronghold of the Patel and Koli community, which in the 2002 elections accounted for more than 30 seats in the state assembly. The BJP rebels therefore consider the success of the Friday rally as crucial to step up their political offensive against Modi.
The focus of the rally will be on anti-farmers policies pursued by the Modi government, like hiking electricity charges and failure to make available adequate fertilizer, especially urea. The state government has been blaming the central government for the inadequate availability of urea.