Farmers to stage ‘rail roko’ stir across India today: BKU
Rahul appeals to the poor to unite and organise themselves to demand their rights from the ruling BJP government
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday announced that the farmer groups protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws will be holding a “rail roko’ (railway blockade) across the country on Thursday.
The protest will be staged from 12pm to 4pm. Tikait said the Centre has not been permiting many trains to ply for the last eight months despite the fact that many other curbs were removed ater people faced difficulties.
The BKU leader said the people from their villages will also take part in the protest, adding that arrangements have been made for the children travelling by the trains.
The “rail roko” has been announced by the Samkyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farmers’ unions.
In a strong bid to atract the fishermen community, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday appealed to the poor in the country to unite and organise themselves to demand their rights from the ruling BJP.
Interacting with fishermen at the coastal village Muthailpet along with Chief Minister V Narayanasamy here, Gandhi alleged that the union government is systematically dismantling all small and medium enterprises as they want them to be controlled by one or two big corporate entities.
“The union government gets such courage only because it is poor who are in the country’s more disorganised sector. We are busy fighting among ourselves. Whereas the rich are very organised and fight unitedly. Even during the Covid pandemic, these rich were able to secure more than Rs1.5 lakh crore loans, while on the other hand the poor were asked to pay for their bus or rail fare when they were migrating during the same period,” he explained.
He added that the union government has brought in three farm laws which are causing the farmers tremendous pain.
“The Union government seems to have completely forgoten that farmers are the backbone of the country whereas I consider fishermen as the farmers of the sea,” he contended.
Emphasising that the views of the Congress party over protecting SME sector are different, he asserted that the party wants to strengthen small and medium businesses which are the strength of this country.
“Demonetisation, hurried implementation of GST and all others are to weaken the small businesses,” he alleged.
“What the Modi government wants is that one or two very rich people control the sea, but the Congress wants lakhs of fishermen to control it,” he argued.
Responding to questions and grievances expressed by fishermen, the majority being women, on their education, livelihood and employment, Gandhi said that when he comes here the next time, they should take him to the sea in their fishing boat so that he could understand their real problems.
Answering a question pertaining to the media not publishing the issues of the poor, Gandhi said the media is not owned by poor people and is an instrument of a few business houses, adding it is very important that poor people organise themselves.
Obliquely referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Puducherry on Feb.25, Gandhi said that politicians will come and give a speech about their views and go away but do not listen to people’s problems, while for him what people think is more important than what he thinks about a particular problem.
“Instead of speaking to you about your problems from my perspective, I wish to know from you about your problems,” he said.
Most of the fishermen demanded that their community be brought under the Scheduled Tribe category in order to get jobs and beter education opportunities.
An M.phil degree holder, who claimed that she was the first from her community to get such a degree, wanted Gandhi to address the ST reservation category in order to get a good educational opportunity. “I am M.phil in English Literature but am still struggling to get admission to Doctorate course in a Central University, but as the community has not got an ST category, I have not been able to fulfil my dream. Had our community been ST category I would have been the first woman to complete my doctorate from Central university,” she said in English.