We're not terrorists: Widows of farmers in Maharashtra slam Kangana, burn effigy

Scores of widows of farmers on Thursday staged a protest in Yavatmal to slam Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for her antifarmers remarks burnt her effigy and demanded an unconditional apology from herThe protesters carrying banners and placards to proclaim Yes we are farmers but not terrorists referring to Kanganas recent statement to malign the farmers protesting on Delhi borders and compare them to terrorists also burnt the Bollywood actors picturesThey also hit her effigy with shoes to register their anger before setting it afireThe protesters announced their resolve to boycott all films of Kangana till she did not withdraw her remarks and tender an unconditional apology to the Indian farmers for her insulting statementsLeading the protests was social activist Smita Tiwari along with farmers widows like Bharati Pawar Poornima Kopulwar Kavita Sidam Lakshmi Gandhwar Rama Thamke Vandana Mohurle Rekha Gurnale Aparna Malikar and Yogita ChoudharyFarm activists like Anil Tiwari Ankit Naitam Sunil Raut Suresh Talmale Neel Jaiswal Manoj Chavan Sandeep Jajulwar Chandan Jainkar Pradeep Kosare Bablu Dhurve and Ashutosh Ambade also participated and raised slogans against KanganaWe have seen the repression let loose on farmers on Delhi borders by police and paramilitary forces We witnessed peasants getting beaten up mercilessly and dying The farmers will return home only after the three new central agricultural laws are withdrawn by the BJPled Union government Pawar said in her speechA young widow Seedam recalled how her debtridden husband committed suicide and her family suffered as a consequence However rather than sympathise with the cause of farmers widows and orphans unpatriotic people like Kangana are making fun of their sacrifices she saidVasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission VNSSM President Kishore Tiwari who spoke at the protest meet labelled Kangana as the BJPs unofficial spokesperson and criticised her for tweets comparing poor farmers with terrorists as an outcome of a perverted mindsetTiwari accorded a Minister of State status in the state said that the whole country was now waiting for February 7 chakka jaam programme and appealed to the people to avoid travel by road on that day in support of farmers agitating on Delhi bordersAnil Tiwari said that the biggest problem confronting the agro sector was the unending suicides by farmers Instead of speaking up for the suffering peasantry Kangana has chosen to ridicule the annadaatas by branding them as terrorists he allegedLast month the VNSSM and other farm organisations had sent batches of farm widows to Delhi to join the protesting farmers and express solidarity on behalf of Maharashtras peasantryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever