Farmers Movement Archive

Farm bodies in Jharkhand to support rail rokko on February 18

RANCHI: The Jharkhand Rajya Kisan Sangharsh Samanway Samiti (JRKSSS), an umbrella organization of farmers’ bodies in the state, on Sunday paid tribute to the farmers who lost lives recently while protesting against the three new farm laws on the second anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack. JRKSSS also announced that it will join the nationwide rail rokko stir called by farm unions across the country on February 18. Earlier on Saturday, the samiti held its maiden mahapanchayat at the Rahe block here on the lines of the congregations held in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to mobilise farmers against the farm laws. The samiti’s convener, Sufal Mahto, said many more mahapanchayats will be held in all districts and blocks of Jharkhand in the coming months to create awareness among the farmers on why the new laws are not in their favour. He said, “On January 16, we will announce our future course of actions and schedules of our upcoming mahapanchayats after a meeting with all stakeholders. Farmers in Jharkhand are now waking up to the effects of the new farm laws too.” Stressing that JRKSSS is readying teams to make the February 18 rail roko stir success in Jharkhand, Mahto said, “From 12pm to 4pm, we will block the trains by sitting on the tracks across the state. We are currently in the process of identifying places to stage the protests but the blockade will be statewide.” JRKSSS is a group of over 5,000 farmers comprising different big and small farm unions in the state. Some of the unions of the samiti are Jharkhand Rajya Kisan Sabha, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, Kisan Mahasabha and Kisan Sangram Samiti. On why they chose to pay tributes to farmers on the anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, Mahto said, “Farmers and jawans are the two sides of the same coin. One protects the nation and other feeds it. However, the Union government is now trying to create a rift between the two after what we saw after the Republic Day fiasco on Delhi. We want strict action for the trouble mongers but we oppose the lathicharge on farmers, who are protesting peacefully to get their demands. Hence, we chose to pay tributes to over 70 farmers who died so far during the protests against the farm laws by holding programmes across the state along with remembering the martyred jawans.” On its demand for MSP, Mahto said. “PM Narendra Modi said MSP is here to stay but all that we are demanding is a law on it. The situation of farmers have hardly changed over the years in both BJP and non-BJP ruled states.”

The Times of India

2021-02-15

Ranchi