On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spent almost the entire day playing hide-and-seek with police on the Rajasthan-MP border. Rahul has the democratic right to register his protest over police firing in which five farmers were killed. He also has the right to meet the families of those killed. But I feel, it would have been better if Rahul Gandhi had issued an appeal to farmers to maintain peace and shun violence. But what did he do? He rode a motorbike with the local MLA, who a day earlier had tried to instigate farmers in Mandsaur. This fuelled doubts that the Congress leader was trying to reap political advantage. Police too had to intervene. Now supporting anti-social elements who stoned a bus full of passengers in Devas, with women and children ducking under their seats and crying for relief, is out of the question. Police must take stringent action against such anti-social elements.

Coming to Maharashtra, nearly Rs. 740 crore worth fruits, vegetables and milk were thrown on the roads. This turned out to be sheer wastage and as a result, thousands of farmers and vendors had to suffer losses. Farmers, under these circumstances, are worried about vegetables, fruits and flowers rotting in their fields, and if the agitation is not called off soon, they will have to bear the full brunt of losses. The leaders representing these farmers should understand this. They have the right to agitate, boycott programmes of state ministers to keep up the pressure on the government, but they should at least allow farmers to send their fruits and vegetables to markets so that they can feed their families.

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