85 pc of Maharashtra gripped by drought as rural belt struggles during Diwali: Shiv Sena(UBT) in ‘Samaana’
Bilkul Online
Mumbai
The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday said that while major metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Pune witness bustling markets and festive consumer enthusiasm ahead of Diwali, rural Maharashtra presents a starkly contrasting and grim reality. Severe drought conditions, economic distress, and alleged government apathy have left farming communities and rural labourers unable to participate in the festival of lights. The Thackeray camp, in an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Samaana’, said that approximately 85 per cent of Maharashtra has been gripped by a severe drought crisis after more than half the monsoon remained dry.
With crops withering in fields, dried-up wells, and empty water bodies, rural citizens face a daunting survival challenge for the upcoming eight months of winter and summer. Salaried government and private employees are receiving festive bonuses, but farmers and agricultural labourers — having no fixed income — cannot afford basic Diwali shopping, access bank credit easily, or rely on EMI purchases. The editorial criticised the government’s financial response, dismissing a Rs 5,000 festive assistance package for farmers as insufficient amidst widespread crop failure. “The rulers who came to power by creating a mirage of ‘Achche Din’ dreams have not only forgotten ‘Achche Din’, but have driven the country’s citizens into bankruptcy amidst the abyss of inflation and unemployment. The homes of favoured industrialists are being filled, and the entire national wealth is being handed over to them.
Today, as incorrectly-gained rulers and industrialists line their own pockets, only their Diwali is celebrated with pomp. Who cares about the common people?” asked the editorial. Amid water scarcity, the editorial raised alarm over ongoing deforestation in the Sahyadri valleys in Karjat and Bhimashankar, calling out a contradiction between official appeals for eco-friendly celebrations and large-scale clearance of forest cover. “It is Maharashtra’s misfortune that on one hand the government appeals to celebrate an eco-friendly Diwali, while on the other hand it makes a bonfire of the Sahyadri forests,” remarked the editorial. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena sharply criticised the ruling administration over rising inflation, unemployment, and widening economic inequality, arguing that festive celebrations remain concentrated among affluent sections while the rural population gropes in the dark. Concluding on a note of resilience, the editorial expressed hope that the collective social consciousness of Maharashtra will endure these hardships, overcome the drought crisis, and eventually welcome prosperity and relief into the lives of its rural citizens.
