Gandhinagar: The Bharat Bandh called by protesting farmers throughout the country and supported by many Opposition parties, including the Congress, elicited a mixed response in Gujarat on Tuesday.
Congress MLA Kanti Kharadi was detained near Amirgarh while trying to close the Gujarat-Rajasthan border. Also, an attempt to burn the statue of the Prime Minister in Jamnagar was foiled. On the Shamlaji-Bhiloda-Idar road in Aravalli, Congress workers blocked ST buses.
The impact of the bandh was felt in north Gujarat, central Gujarat, Saurashtra-Kutch and south Gujarat. Many Congress leaders, activists and farmers who came out in support of the Bharat Bandh, were detained, and this affected public life in the state.
In Gujarat, too, tyres were burnt and there was jam on the Vadodara-bound national highway, Sanand on the Ahmedabad-Malia state highway and on the Bharuch-Dahej highway. Opposition leader Paresh Dhanani was detained in Amreli. Congress activists, leaders and farmers were detained across the state. Former MLA from Dahegam Kamini Bani was detained, apart from Rajkot Women’s Congress president.
Demonstrations were held by the Congress in Vadodara in support of the Bharat Bandh; Congress protested by burning tyres on the national highway near Vadodara from Jambuwa bridge to Tarsali, which led to a traffic jam on the highway.
Local body elections in Gujarat may be held in February. According to government sources, the Gujarat government has now started compiling a list of various schemes of the Centre and the state government for farmers. Apart from this, various budget schemes for farmers and other announcements besides compensation due to them, will also be announced soon. With this, BJP president C.R. Patil immediately started holding meetings and formulating a strategy. Also, on Monday, Patil held a conference with various BJP peasant leaders and planned to thwart the farmers’ movement in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, claiming that the Bharat Bandh has failed in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi should say what the difference between coriander and fenugreek is. Responding to Rupani’s sarcastic statement, Gujarat Congress state president Amit Chavda said indignantly that if the government had the strength, millions of farmers would protest after the Delhi border was opened.
Targeting Rahul Gandhi, Rupani said, “If you know the difference between coriander and fenugreek, then answer, everyone else knows how much you know. I have to ask the Congress that in the 2019 election manifesto, you promised that if the Congress comes to power, trade in the interstate market will be given permission, but if this is what PM Modi has done today, then the Congress will have to answer why they have come out in support of the bandh today”. He said that Rahul had said in a press conference that “it should be allowed to sell vegetables and fruits from APMC and farmers can sell it anywhere.”