Uddhav Thackeray recounts Parbhani teen's suicide at Dussehra rally, attacks govt over drought

Uddhav Thackeray spoke about the drought situation in the state at the Dussehra rally. He targeted the Centre as well as the state government. To explain the situation, he narrated the story of a boy named Yuvraj from Parbhani. Thackeray appeared to choke up as he described the incident.

The eyes of those present also appeared moist as they listened to Yuvraj's story. Thackeray drew attention to the hardship the drought has brought upon farmers.

In his speech, Thackeray said, "This drought is going to be big. We have a saying, a thirteenth month in a drought. This government is just like that. The double-engine government is only making announcements. Last year, everything was washed away in the excess rain. The Chief Minister then announced the biggest package in history, Rs 31,000 crore. For those whose land was washed away, Rs 3.5 lakh per hectare was announced. How many people received it? How many got crop insurance? The Rs 5,000 aid now given, is that not a favour? The criteria that had been set for insurance have been removed so that compensation does not have to be paid at all. A loan waiver was announced, but nobody knows who received it. The Central team came and went; nobody knows what it did."

Thackeray further said, "That is how bad the condition of farmers is. There is a village called Jhari in Parbhani. In that village of Jhari there was a 14-year-old boy named Yuvraj Budhwar. There was a picnic at school, so Yuvraj kept pestering his father. His father is a farmer. He said that when the soybean was sold there would be money, and with it they would buy him clothes and send him on the picnic. But the boy saw that the soybean had dried up. How would it be sold then, and where would the money come from? So in the afternoon, when nobody was at home, he made a noose from a sari on the ceiling and hanged himself, taking his own life. A father cannot give his son new clothes. Just think what must have gone through the minds of those parents on seeing their son in the noose of the very sari in which his mother wore and he used to cling to. But nobody went to see him."

As Thackeray described this, he choked up, and the eyes of those present also appeared moist.

Thackeray went on, "This is the poor farmer of my Maharashtra. This is how the poor farmers here live, and this is how their children die. That Yuvraj would never have even bought a toy helicopter, but that is what a poor farmer's son is like here, while helicopters are flown to a five-star farm. What kind of pretence is this?" With this, he took a swipe at Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde without naming him.