Out of the 50 Turmeric Farmers who made the journey to PM Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency to file their nomination papers, only 26 have managed to do so. Besides them, two activists from Andhra Pradesh who have been supporting the cause of fluorosis victims have filed their nomination.
The road for nominations is not easy for the farmers. Besides depositing a sum of ₹25,000 each, the candidates required the signatures of at least 10 local voters. Initially, the locals have agreed to support their nomination but dropped off in the last minute because they were threatened by the local BJP leaders.
Even Uttar Pradesh Government run by BJP also posed a threat by deploying Intelligence Police after the farmers. They hampered the movement of the farmers, their stay, and their efforts to get the signatures of the locals. This has threatened the locals further and finally, they could muster support only for 26 candidates.
In complete contrast, KCR Government did not pose any problems for the farmers who filed nominations against the Chief Minister’s daughter, Kavitha.
