Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers in Maharashtra won’t celebrate, rally in Mumbai on Nov 28

Farmers’ organisations in Maharashtra said on Saturday that they will not celebrate the Centre’s decision to repeal the three controversial farm laws as tribute to the 700 farmers who lost their lives during the year-long protest. They plan to bring the ashes of the farmers who died in the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh) incident to Mumbai, and hold a rally of 50,000 farmers before immersing the ashes in the Arabian Sea on November 28. Eight people had died in Lakhimpur Kheri when a speeding sports utility vehicle – allegedly driven Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish – rammed into a group of farmers returning after a protest against UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit. On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in a nationally televised speech that the three contentious farm laws, against which farmers from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting on the outskirts of Delhi for over a year, will be repealed in the forthcoming session of Parliament. To mark what it termed as a farmers’ victory, Congress celebrated ‘Kisan Vijay Diwas’ on Saturday. It also directed party leaders to meet with the families of farmers that lost their lives during the protest in the last one year. Meanwhile, Ajit Nawale, general secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS) said on Saturday that his outfit will not celebrate the repeal announcement. ABKS is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a coalition of 40 farmers’ organisations from across the country formed in November 2020 in response to three farm laws passed the same year. “There is no call from Samyukt Kisan Morcha to celebrate the day as 700 families of the farmers are grieving,” Nawale said. “For us, this is not a proper time to celebrate because the fight is not over yet. Until the farm laws are repealed in Parliament, we will continue to agitate. We don’t trust the BJP-led Central government. They are capable of doing anything.” The three laws – the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act – were given assent by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 27, 2020 just days after both houses of Parliament passed them unanimously. On January 12, 2021, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the farm laws and appointed a committee to look into farmers’ grievances. Nawale said, “To create awareness among farmers about the treatment meted out by the Centre and to remember the cause for which hundreds of farmers sacrificed their lives, we have brought ashes of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri and started taking them to all the districts as part of our campaign. The campaign will culminate in Mumbai in the form of a rally on November 28 in which prominent farmer leaders such as Rakesh Tikait will participate. The ashes will also be immersed in the Arabian Sea in Mumbai the same day.”

Hindustan Times

20-11-2021

Mumbai