Will Big B save Bundelkhand farmers?

Praising Amitabh Bachchan for his efforts to save debt-ridden farmers of Vidharbha, the political parties in Uttar Pradesh have appealed to the megastar to help the farmers of Bundelkhand region who too were neck-deep in debt forcing many of them to commit suicide to save themselves from harassment.

Suicides of farmers continued unabated in Bundelkhand region with 16 farmers committing suicide in last one month. On Sunday night a farmer in Bnada committed suicide as he was not able to repay Rs 35,000 loan he had taken five years back.

A day earlier a farmer Tulsidas (45) died after consuming poison at Gairauli village in Hamirpur district.

UP BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak in a letter to Big B has appealed for his initiative to provide financial assistance to the debt ridden farmers.

Pathak wrote a letter just after Bundelkhand Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (BKSS) had written a letter to Bachchan last week highlighting the plight of the drought-hit Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh where farmers were forced to commit suicide because of harassment by banks and moneylenders for re-payment of their loans.

The BJP spokesperson in his letter sent to Amitabh said: 'Your effort in Vidarbha to mitigate the sufferings of farmers is appreciable. I want to draw your attention about the condition of the farmers in Bundelkhand at your home state. UP is the 'Karmsthali' of Babuji (Harivansh Rai Bachchan) and Bundelkhand is just 100 kilometer from your native place of Allahabad. The debt-ridden farmers in the Bundelkhand are forced to commit suicide because of the harassment of banks or private money lenders.'