TEN Left and communist parties of Telangana have launched two bus jathas that traversed across the state of Telangana highlighting the need for immediate measures from the state government to prevent the spate of farmer suicides. Ever since the new state came into existence on June 2 this year, over 450 farmers took their lives in Telangana. The Left parties have declared that both private loans and the policies of the government are responsible for these suicides. Instead of bothering about this, the chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was rolling out red carpet to the industrialists by declaring a new industrial policy. When reporters asked him about the spate of suicides, he shot back that it has not come to his notice. After the backlash to his attitude, the revenue minister acknowledged that some suicides have occurred but most are due to natural reasons rather than failures in farming. KCR had with all fanfare promised during elections that farmers and agriculture would be taken care well if Telangana Rashtra Samithi is voted to office. After six months it is clear that he is leaving the farmers to their own devices. In such a scenario, the ten Left and communist parties in Telangana chalked out an agitational programme on this issue. Two jathas were launched on 5th December, 2014 for the purpose of studying the reasons for suicides by farmers and the condition of their families. The impact of the policies of the government at the ground level was also explored during the jathas. The jathas culminated in a public meeting on 11th December in Hyderabad that was addressed by the state leaders of the ten parties. The first jatha started from Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district and the second from Gajwel, the constituency of the chief minister, in Medak district. The meeting held on the occasion of flagging off the jatha in Gajwel was addressed by Thammineni Veerabhadram, CPI(M) state secretary; Chada Venkata Reddy, CPI state secretary; J V Chalapathi, state leader of CPI(ML) New Democracy; Raju, state leader of CPI(ML) New Democracy; Murahari, state leader of SUCI; Saibabu of RSP; Md. Ghouse, state secretary, MCPI(U); Gangula Narasayya, state leader of CPI(ML); Pashya Padma, state secretary of Rytu Sangham; G Jayaraju, state secretary, Telangana Rytu Sangham. The leaders criticised that the CM and his ministers for not having time to enquire about the suffering families of farmers who committed suicide. They charged that only industrialists were visible for the government and demanded immediate payment of Rs 5 lakhs as ex- gratia to the suffering families. The Left and communist parties would continue the struggle till relief was reached to the farmers. Seeds for farmers suicides were sown during Chandrababu Naidu’s regime. The government should immediately give assurance and confidence to farmers, take measures for resolving the crisis in agriculture. The jatha reached Medak through Toopran, Narsapur. During the jatha the leaders visited affected farmers’ families. Meetings were held in Narsapur and Medak also. Among those who addressed the meeting in Ibrahimpatnam, where the other jatha was flagged off, included Sarampally Mallareddy, CPI(M) state secretariat member; Vishweshwar Rao, state leader of CPI; P. Ranga Rao, state secretariat member of CPI(ML) New Democracy; Bootham Veeraiah, CPI(ML) leader; Achyutha Ramarao, CPI(ML) New Democracy and leaders of CPI(ML)Liberation, SUCI, MCPI(U), Forward Bloc, RSP parties. The leaders demanded that the KCR government should immediately take measures to stop the suicides and come to the rescue of distressed families. The government was behaving obstinately regarding farmers’ suicides and moreover was saying that no farmer had died which was very ludicrous. It was shameful that Telangana was number two in the country in the matter of farmers’ suicides. If the government continued to behave in the same callous manner its fate will also the same as that of the previous governments. Farmers were committing suicides as the government had not given them any assurance and confidence. The Left leaders visited the distressed families in Agapeta village under the Gajwel mandal. In the meeting held at Kandukuru mandal centre the farmers coming from the villages narrated their tales of woe to the leaders. The leaders cautioned that if land was taken away from the farmers and given to bigwigs they will not keep quiet. In Jagdevpur and Gajwel mandals the families of the farmers told their problems and that the government was not providing a single paisa help and they were passing through difficult days. Because of suicides the education of the children had become a casualty. CONCLUSION MEETING The two jathas concluded on Thursday, 11th December in Hyderabad near Indira Park where a maha dharna was organised. Leaders of all the ten parties participated and addressed the gathering. All the demands made during the jatha on behalf of the peasantry were reiterated by the leaders. The government’s plans of making Hyderabad a world-class metro, creating a small lake with the name of Vinayaksagar on part of the land of Indira park and such other grandiose schemes were cited to criticise its utter disregard to the plight of farmers who were committing suicide on such a large scale. The state government was also pulled up for talking only of facilities and concessions to the industrialists and not bothering about the plight of the farmers. The demand of Rs 5 lakh to be paid to the families of those who committed suicide was reiterated. It was told that giving such help to 500 families involved would require Rs 25 crores only. The government was talking of providing Rs 30,000 crores for building a pharma city but was not coming forward to pay compensation to the families of farmers who committed suicide, they criticised. They attacked the government for not bothering about farmers not getting crop loans and new loans. When the affluent did not pay back the loans taken by them, the administration was indifferent but when the farmers failed to repay the loan due to crop failure or natural calamity their families were not spared from harassment and torture. The leaders also charged the government with following anti-farmer policies and warned that strong movements would be built up to resist these policies. The leaders also called upon the farmers not to take the extreme step of suicide and instead come to the arena of struggle and work for realising their genuine demands and rights. 21 spouses of the distressed peasant families also attended the maha dharna.