Nagpur: Vidarbha statehood activists from Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti (VRAS) on Monday staged a fiery protest to intensify demand for a blanket farm loan waiver and complete clearance of debt entries from farmers’ land records. The activists burned copies of the state govt’s June 2 Government Resolution (GR) on the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana and briefly disrupting traffic by halting a city bus to press for the demands.The agitation, held near the Gandhi statue at Variety Square, witnessed scores of activists raising slogans of “Jai Vidarbha” and accusing the govt of misleading farmers through what they described as a “deceptive” loan waiver scheme. Protesters alleged that despite acknowledging the recurring cycle of farm indebtedness in its preamble, the govt’s farm lona waiver scheme failed to offer any substantial relief to cultivators. When protesters attempted stopped a moving bus, police detained two activists, Taresh Durugkar and Vilas Suryavanshi. Both were later released after about an hour.Addressing the gathering, VRAS youth wing president Mukesh Masurkar said, “The govt writes off loans worth thousands of crores for industrialists and corporate houses, but when it comes to farmers, the very people who feed the nation, it suddenly cites financial constraints. The June 2 GR acknowledges that farmers remain trapped in a cycle of debt despite previous loan waivers, yet the scheme offers no meaningful solution.“Masurkar linked the agrarian crisis to the long-standing demand for a separate Vidarbha state. The protest was led by East Vidarbha president Arun Kedar and Masurkar along with several office-bearers. VRAS announced plans to intensify the movement if the govt failed to reconsider the scheme.
