Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers hold protests across the country

Riding bullock carts, motorbikes, tractors and vans, farmers from across the country are preparing to join rallies on Republic Day, declaring that their agitation goes beyond the spotlight on Delhi’s borders. In Maharashtra, more than 15,000 farmers walked down the 7-km Kasara Ghat on the border between Nashik and Thane, and then got into vehicles for a procession towards Mumbai. Azad Maidan meeting They will join a sit-in of farmers and agricultural workers under the banner of the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha at Azad Maidan, where political leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, are expected to speak on Monday. On Tuesday, they plan to hoist the flag and then head to the Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to the Governor. “Many of these farmers are from the same areas in Nashik that took part in the ‘long march’ in 2018. There are more protests across the country now, and more unity among different farmers’ organisations, so they are marching with hope that the government will have to listen to them now,” said All India Kisan Sabha leader Vijoo Krishnan, who helped lead the 180-km foot march from Nashik to Mumbai in 2018. Five hundred farmers, including 200 women, from the Gujarat Khedut Samaj, who have moved the High Court after they were refused permission to hold protests in Surat and other parts of the State, will be joining the unions at Shahjahanpur on the Rajasthan-Haryana border. In Madhya Pradesh, farmers from northeastern districts such as Gwalior, Bhind, Morena and Shivpuri are heading towards Palwal near Delhi with 400 tractors, while those from the rest of the State will hold protests in their own district headquarters, said Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh spokesperson Abhimanyu Kohar. “The BJP is trying to present the movement as only from the northwestern States, but we want to show that it is nationwide,” he said. In the south, Karnataka’s farmers are planning major rallies in Bengaluru and Belagavi, but say there may be as many bullock carts as tractors. “In our area, there are not so many tractors. Also, the sugarcane season is going on. So one or two tractors will come from each village, but there will be people on bullock carts, motorbikes and on foot, coming to salute the flag in Belagavi,” said Jayashree Gurannanavar, leader of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sanga (KRRS). Northern Karnataka has sent some 100 people in four mini-lorries for the Delhi protest, while another 1,000 from the region will head for the Bengaluru parade. “We are protesting because we want a law guaranteeing that we get fair remuneration for our sweat. No one is paying us a salary. We don’t want any subsidy. We just want a 100% MSP for all agricultural produce,” said Prakash Naik, Belegavi secretary of the KRRS. More than a thousand farmers from eastern Indian States, including Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, are also making their way to Delhi. “We are a group of 500 mostly paddy farmers from Odisha, who left Bhubaneswar on six buses on January 15 and reached Singhu on January 22. Overall, we have travelled about 2,000 km and were detained several times in Uttar Pradesh,” said Navnirman Krushak Sangathan national convenor Akshaya . Tractor and bike rallies have been held in Ongole and Vishakapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. On Saturday, rallies were held at or near the Raj Bhavans in several States, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Hindu

2021-01-25

NEW DELHI