Maharashtra farmers plan vehicle march from Nashik to Delhi on December 21

Item

Title

Maharashtra farmers plan vehicle march from Nashik to Delhi on December 21

Description

Farmers from Maharashtra will organise a vehicle march from Nashik to Delhi on December 21 and join those protesting in the national capital for the past three weeks. Farmers from 20 districts of the state will gather at Nashik and travel 1,266 kilometres to Delhi, after joining the protests at the Rajasthan-Haryana border on December 24. The announcement was made by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at a press conference in Nashik on Friday. Ashok Dhawale, president of AIKS, said in the statement, “The Vehicle Jatha will begin with a massive public meeting at Nashik on December 21 afternoon. It will be welcomed by thousands of people at Ozar, Pimpalgaon Baswant, Chandwad, Umrane, Malegaon, Dhule and Shirpur in Nashik and Dhule districts of Maharashtra before entering Madhya Pradesh.”On November 26 and 27, farmers from Maharashtra had participated in the countrywide call for protests made by AIKS, by organising roadblocks and staging protests on highways. There was participation from 21 districts, including Thane, Palghar, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Sangli, Nanded, Wardha and Solapur, among others. Similarly, farmers from state also participated in the Bharat Bandh on December 8 and held peaceful protests, including marches to government offices at the district and tehsil levels across the state. “In November, we had taken a call not to march to Delhi from Maharashtra owing to the Covid-19 situation. However, the government is being very obstinate. It is also running propaganda that whatever is happening in Delhi is only because of farmers from Punjab and Haryana. That argument needs to be razed. Now, when thousands of farmers from Maharashtra will travel around 1,300 kilometres to participate in the protest, it will effectively counter the government’s argument,” said Dhawale. The farmers will support the main demands of those already protesting in the Capital, including asking the Central government to repeal the three “anti-farmer and pro-corporate” farm laws passed by it.

Publisher

Hindustan Times

Date

19-12-2020

Coverage

Mumbai