Farmers Movement Archive

New farm laws: Farmers protest in Mumbai; minister detained in Nagpur

MUMBAI: The protest against the new farm laws reached Mumbai on Tuesday with agriculturists from Nandurbar, Western Maharashtra, Aurangabad and Amravati assembling near the Collector’s office. Led by Swabhimaani Shetkari Sanghatna leader Raju Shetti, Peasants and Workers’ Party leader Jayant Patil and Pratibha Shinde from Lok Sangharsh Morcha, the protesters tried to march toward the Reliance office in BKC, but were barricaded by the police. However, minister of state for water resources and education Bachchu Kadu, who was one of the organisers of the rally, could not attend because he was detained by the Nagpur police just before his flight to Mumbai. He was released only after home minister Anil Deshmukh intervened. “The home minister has called for a report from the Nagpur police. They ensured I missed my flight,” he said. Nagpur police chief Amitesh Kumar said they had followed instructions from the state police chief that Kadu should not leave for Mumbai. “We detained him as per orders,” said Kumar. Protesters alleged the biggest beneficiaries of the new farm laws would be corporates. “We want the farm laws to be repealed and are against the corporatization of agriculture,” said Shinde. “Farmers all over the country have been awakened and are supporting their brothers in Delhi,” said PWP leader Jayant Patil. While this group had planned a vehicle march from different parts of the state to Mumbai’s BKC, hundreds of farmers affiliated to Kisan Sabha union have embarked on a vehicle march from Nashik to Delhi in support of the farmers protesting there. “We are struggling to get fair prices for our crops. With these farm laws, we may not even get the minimum support price. This is the main reason I have come to the protest,” said Ramesh Naik, a farmer from Nandurbar who grows jowar, toor and cotton and has a debt of Rs 50,000. Kamalabai from Aurangabad said she had left her home at 4 am to come to the protest. “Finally, if we do not get good prices for our crops, it will be difficult for us to survive on farming. The new farms laws do not guarantee us even the minimum support price and are weakening APMCs. In fact, we get better prices at APMCs,” she said.

The Times of India

2020-12-23

Mumbai