NRI group bats for farmer’s widow in Maharashtra polls

NAGPUR - Bebitai Bais, the widow of a farmer who committed suicide, has the support of a group of non-resident Indians settled in the US for her bid to contest the Maharashtra assembly elections.

In an email addressed to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) chief Kishore Tiwari, the group said: “It is heartening to know that the farmer’s widow has taken on the mantle to fight the elections against other political parties, who have ignored the agrarian crisis till now. Her candidature to highlight the farmers’ situation is certainly the need of the hour.”

Bais, who launched her campaign in Wani constituency with a candle light march by nearly 100 widows at Both-Bodan village in Yavatmal district Saturday, is the candidate of the VJAS.

Tiwari told IANS that one of the NRIs, Somu Kumar, called up from Washington and informed him that the group would carry out a phone-in campaign to exhort people to support Bais in the Oct 13 state assembly elections.

The group would also, through international organisations, highlight worldwide the plight of Vidarbha’s 7,000-plus farmland widows and over 35,000 orphans, Tiwari said.

Tiwari said that the NRIs were moved by an IANS report on the candle light march by the farmers’ widows.

The group has urged all political parties in the state to make the agrarian crisis afflicting Vidarbha region as the top election issue.