Bengaluru: Like the villagers in Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’, the hapless, debt-ridden farmers of Congress ruled Karnataka are waiting for Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. The local Congress leaders have been telling them that Rahul is very concerned about their plight and would be visiting them soon. It has been almost three months since the first suicide of this season was reported.
More than 150 farmers have committed suicide across Karnataka and price crash and crippling debts are main reasons behind it. Most of the farmers who ended their lives are sugarcane growers. Maximum deaths have been reported from the old Mysore region districts of Mandya, Mysore, Tumkur, Hassan, Shimoga, Davanagere and Kolar. Many farmers in north Karnataka districts of Bijapur, Raichur, Dharward, Gulbarga and Belgaum have also committed suicide.
After the spate of suicides stalled the Assembly's Monsoon session, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah woke up from his slumber and announced some measures to prevent suicides. The senior most leader of the Congress and former chief minister SM Krishna came back from his forced retirement and toured the worst affected Mandya district. He took on his own party government in the state for its apathy. A rattled Siddaramaiah immediately ordered all his ministers to visit the family members of the farmers who committed suicide. He himself visited the families in Mandya and Mysore district.
The JDS supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda even staged fast unto death in New Delhi. His son and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy took out a padyatra from Hubli to Belgaum to highlight the plight of farmers. The main opposition BJP led by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa also launched an all out attack on the government’s slow response.
The opposition and the civil society demanded that Rahul should visit the state to understand the pitiable condition of debt-ridden farmers. They wanted to know what stopped Rahul from visiting the state, if he could visit the debt ridden farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab.
The state Congress president Dr G Parameshwar made several statements over the last two months that Rahul would be visiting the farmers. Even Siddaramaiah told the same to media. Like Godot in Beckett’s play, there is no sign of Rahul Gandhi till today.
Last week Rahul spent a night in Bengaluru on his way back from Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh. According to Congress leaders he gathered information on the suicides and assured them that he would be visiting the state soon.
According to insiders, Siddaramaiah himself does not want Rahul to visit Karnataka. He feared that his rivals within the party might use it to expose his administration. Siddaramaiah is facing an internal rebellion and the demand for Cabinet reshuffle is growing louder with each passing day. The two most formidable upper castes in the state Lingayats are Vokkaligas are reportedly unhappy with Siddaramaiah’s OBC centric policies. They are demanding that they be given adequate representation in both party and government. Lingayats are mainly with the BJP and Vokkaligas consider HD Deve Gowda their leader. In 2013 Assembly election, both the castes backed Congress in a big way.
Ridiculing the Congress Vice President, Karnataka state BJP spokesperson S Prakash said, “Rahul Gandhi is rent a cause freelance politician. He has the time to go to every state but does not have the time to visit Karnataka. The highest number of farmers have committed suicide here. It is the beginning of the end of Congress in Karnataka. I am not saying that Rahul Gandhi’s visit makes any difference”.
A state Congress leader speaking to IBNLive said, “Rahul Gandhi will visit Karnataka after August 15”.
An opposition leader shot back “This August 15 or August 15 of next year?”
It seems Siddaramaiah has no answer to it.
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