At Dussehra rally, Eknath Shinde turns ‘vote theft’ charge on Uddhav Thackeray

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde used his Shiv Sena faction’s Dussehra gathering to announce relief for farmers in drought-affected areas and to respond to the Opposition’s campaign against EVMs and the Chief Election Commissioner. He said the real theft of votes occurred in 2019, when the Thackeray faction formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government against the mandate that voters had given to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.

Relief for farmers

Mr. Shinde said Shiv Sainiks never stay at home when farmers face trouble, whether in rain or in drought. He said Balasaheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe would have told party workers to set festivals aside. The party dropped the fanfare of a rally for a campaign titled “Carrying saffron on shoulders, Shiv Sainiks will be seen on the embankment.”

On the morning of the gathering, he flagged off 100 trucks of aid for districts in drought. Mr. Shinde said that in Parbhani the party had distributed 25,000 sewing machines to women in farming families and 25,000 bicycles to girls who travel to school. It will also fund group weddings for daughters of farmers whose marriages, delayed by drought, have hampered them, he said.

Responding to the Opposition’s criticism of the ₹5,000 paid into farmers’ accounts before Diwali, he said the amount is a payment for the festival season and not the final sum. Farmers will also receive government concessions and drought compensation, as per existing rules.

Loan waiver and Delhi meeting

Mr. Shinde said the budget provides ₹32,000 crore for a loan waiver. He remarked that earlier governments left out farmers who repaid loans on time, and that he gave each of them ₹50,000 when he was Chief Minister. “Farmers receive ₹6,000 a year from the Centre, ₹6,000 from the State, and ₹6,000 crore has reached them directly,” he said, asking whether those who demand accounts had distributed even a packet of biscuits to farmers during the drought.

He said that he and the Chief Minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, and that both asked for details of the drought. Mr. Shinde said that PM Modi told him that the Centre and the State stand behind Maharashtra’s farmers. He added that central teams have inspected the affected areas.

Reply on EVMs and ‘regime change’

Mr. Shinde said that those who now speak of vote theft had taken votes in 2019, when the Thackeray faction, out of a wish for power, broke the mandate to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. He called that the largest robbery of democracy. Regarding EVMs, he asked how the MPs who are protesting today won their seats if the machines had been tampered with, and whether they won by stealing votes.

He said “regime change” comes through elections, that voters have rejected the Thackeray faction three times, and that “regime change had already occurred within its own party”.