Farmers Movement Archive

Finally, PJP party workers call off stir

CLEARED SKHER Aurangabad: For one-and-a-half days, over a dozen workers of the Praja Janshakti Party remained atop an overhead water tank in Aurangabad district, refusing to come down till Union minister Raosahab Danve apologised for his remarks regarding the farmers' agitation outside Delhi. After much discussion and convincing, the workers finally climbed down on Friday evening after the mediation of industries minister Subhash Desai. The workers belong to the party of Maharashtra minister of state for women and child development Bacchu Kadu, who himself rode a two-wheeler to Delhi border to support the farmers staging the agitation over new farm laws. “The administration has sought eight days’ time for addressing our demand. If the union minister fails to apologise, we will relaunch our agitation and it will be more severe,” party’s district president Sudhakar Shinde, who started the agitation on Thursday, told TOI. Earlier in the day, much like actor Dharmendra in the film Sholay, the workers threatened to jump if any policeman tried to climb the steps of the 70-ft high water tank in Shivajinagar area or bring them food. Only after their fellow party workers brought food for them, the workers had their meal. Jawaharnagar police inspector Santosh Patil said, “We were worried about the agitators’ lives, as they were threatening to jump, if any policemen tried to climb the stairs.” What added to the administration’s worries was the interaction of former MLA and Danve’s estranged son-in-law Harshvardhan Jadhav with the agitators. The efforts of the policemen deployed on duty since Thursday and those of senior police officers to convince the workers to withdraw their agitation failed to yield results. Later, tehsildar Datta Bharaskar, on behalf of district collector Sunil Chavan was sent to convince the workers to withdraw their agitation. But they refused to talk to them. Late in the evening, four-five of the workers came down to hold talks with Desai through video conferencing. The meeting was fruitful as all the workers soon climbed down. Police and the administration heaved a sigh of relief as chief minister Uddhav Thackarey is going to visit Aurangabad on Saturday.

The Times of India

2020-12-12

Aurangabad