Party promises Rs 2,500 per acre to farmers for seed purchase and four free LPG cylinders a year. It also said it would launch inquiries into alleged BRS corruption and replace the Dharani portal
December 18, 2020
One of the more ironical images during last week’s Bharat Bandh called by farmers groups was that of social activist Anna Hazare on a day long hunger fast in support of the farmers demands. Accompanied by just a handful of supporters, a recorded message of Anna from his village of Ralegan Siddhi was sent out to tv channels. Most channels ignored it, a far cry from the time when multi-cam teams were chasing the then septuagenarian Gandhi topi leader with breathless excitement, with newspaper columns even comparing him to a modern day Mahatma. The ‘Anna moment’ in Indian politics has long come and gone. The question is, can it be replicated by a new band of protestors waving the flag of anti-establishment politics? To put it more plainly, will the 2020 farm protests do to the Modi 2.0 government what the 2011 Anna anti-corruption movement did to Dr Manmohan Singh regime?