The cotton farmers claimed that they had sold 20,000 quintals of cotton to Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Wardha. (Representational photo)
A group of over 400 cotton growers from Seloo village in Wardha district of Maharashtra have threatened to commit "self-immolation" in front of the RSS headquarters in Nagpur tomorrow to protest alleged non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 8 crores by a buyer, who they claimed is close to the saffron outfit.
The farmers claimed that they had sold 20,000 quintals of cotton to Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Wardha, which in turn sold it to one Sunil Prabhakar Talatule, who owns Shrikrishna Ginning and Pressing Factory.
His father Babasaheb Talatule was among the founding fathers of the RSS, the protesters said.
"We had sold our produce between November 2014 and May 2015 but Talatule is not making payment against purchase," said Ram Narain Pathak, one of the farmers leading the group.
He said they had approached Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungattiwar and Union Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari to draw their attention to the issue, but nothing had happened.
The farmers also filed a police complaint on July 25, 2015, and an offence under IPC section 420 (cheating) was registered against APMC Secretary, I Sufi, APMC administrator Prashant Talmale and the purchaser Sunil Talatule, who were subsequently arrested by police, Seloo Police confirmed.
The farmers also approached District Collector for recovery of the amount, though the APMC is not directly under collector's control.
Following this, District Deputy Registrar of Co-Operatives, Wardha served a notice for recovery of the amount from the trio.
Wardha collector Ashutosh Salil said the attachment of the property of the defaulters has been endorsed.
"The process has been initiated as per laid down procedure. Their properties will be attached (and) the amount will be recovered from them," he said.
When asked why they are organising their protest in front of RSS headquarters, Mr Pathak said only the RSS leadership can pressurise Mr Talatule to pay the dues.
"We had approached BJP leaders in Delhi and also tried to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, but his staff did not allow us" Mr Pathak claimed.
Mr Talatule did not respond to text messages seeking his comment on the allegation.
Also, a top RSS functionary did not respond to queries messaged to him to elicit their outfit's comment on the issue.