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Widow of farmer who killed himself joins poll race, says no one knows farm distress better

Vaishali Yede, 28, has filed her nomination for Lok Sabha polls from Vidarbha’s Yavatmal-Washim constituency. Yavatmal district is notorious for its high rate of farmer suicides.

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Mumbai: For eight years after her husband, a Vidarbha farmer, committed suicide, Vaishali Yede lived the life of an outcast, kept away from all community programmes, be they weddings or naming ceremonies.

This year, however, Yede decided to come out of the shadows, to not just be a visible part of her community, but also make a bid to represent it.

The 28-year-old widow has filed her nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Vidarbha’s Yavatmal-Washim constituency, which will vote in the first phase of polls on 11 April.

Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, where Yede belongs, is one of the worst-affected by farm distress and has been notorious for its high rate of farmer suicides. In 2018 alone, 1,489 farmers committed suicide in the district, according to the Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation department.

“Everyone sees and discusses the plight of distressed farmers. No one understands how difficult life becomes for the families these farmers leave behind, the widows,” Yede told ThePrint over the phone.

“Using the platform of elections, I can raise the concerns of farmers, the plight of their families,” she added.

Yede is contesting the election as a member of the Prahar Janshakti Party, which is led by Independent Maharashtra MLA Omprakash Bacchu Kadu.

Her rivals in the election are sitting Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali, a four-term parliamentarian, and former Maharashtra Congress president Manikrao Thakre.

“I am telling people in my constituency that these big people don’t necessarily know the difficulties of the poor,” she said. “I have experienced it all first-hand.”


Also read: Farmers set to march to Mumbai again, but allege Maharashtra govt is holding them back


‘Supported my family by learning to sew’

Yede got married at the age of 18, but lost her husband, Sudhakar, within two years, when, bogged down by a huge loan from a private moneylender, he decided to end his life.

“He grew cotton and pulses,” said Yede. “Nature didn’t support him. Banks denied him loans and he fell into the trap of private moneylenders. He was harassed when he couldn’t repay the loan.”

The first year after his death, the young widow and the couple’s two children lived with her parents at their house in Yavatmal’s Dongarkharda village.

Her father helped her buy a sewing machine so she could support herself and the two toddlers. Yede learnt to sew, before eventually registering herself as an anganwadi worker.

While agrarian distress forms the crux of her campaign, she has also promised constituents a ban on liquor in Yavatmal, which she says has been a long-standing demand of women in the district.

Yede started her poll campaign from Yavatmal city by distributing milk outside a liquor shop to raise awareness on the issue.

“Under duress, many men take to the bottle and this has ruined a number of families in our district,” she told ThePrint. “The government turns a blind eye to this because of the revenue liquor brings,” Yede added.

Along with votes, Yede is also asking locals for funds to help her contest the polls. So far, she has managed to collect Rs 1.5 lakh, she added.

Speech at Marathi literary meet brought her attention

Yede, who comes from Yavatmal’s Rajur village, has emerged as a vocal campaigner for the cause of farm widows.

She was part of a play, Terava, directed by theatre personality and activist Harish Ithape, which talks about the economic challenges and harassment that widows of farmers face, but first sprang into limelight when she spoke at the inaugural function of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, a Marathi literature festival, in Yavatmal this January.

Besieged by heavy criticism after they revoked their invite to eminent writer Nayantara Sahgal citing local protests, the organisers had decided to redeem themselves by inviting a farm widow instead.

Yede was surprised at the invitation, but decided to make the most of the opportunity to talk about the struggles of women like her. “I am fortunate that a widow like me is being able to inaugurate such a big literary meet…” she said at the literary meet.

“I don’t believe in rebirth, otherwise, along with my husband, I would have ended my life too,” she added in her address. “Even if a farmer dies and mixes with the soil, he doesn’t become an Adani or Ambani. My husband did not understand this,” she added. “But I believe only in this one birth and so I will fight.”


Also read: Govt’s final move to appease farmers — Rs 6,000 every year for those with 2-hectare plots


 

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