Farmers’ rally enters Mumbai, to lay siege to Vidhan Bhavan
PROTEST Led by the All India Kisan Sabha, their demands include a complete waiver on farm loans and fair prices for their produce
MUMBAI: “It’s my first visit to Mumbai. It’s a beautiful city and we hope here our protest march will bear fruit. The government will finally listen to us and transfer our land that we have been tilling for generations in our name,” said Laxmibai Achari, a 70-yearold tribal farmer from Nasik.
Achari along with thousands of farmers entered the city on Sunday, after a six day march, across 170 kms from Nasik. The farmers, who had camped just outside the Mulund octroi naka yard ( on the border of Mumbai), a day earlier, walked to Somaiya ground in Chunnabhati, 16.8 kms away by late Sunday evening.
On Monday, the protesting farmers, under the umbrella of Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), plan to lay siege to the Vidhan Bhavan (legislature complex) in south Mumbai, where the budget session of the state assembly is underway. While protest organisers say that around 30,000 farmers have marched from Nashik, 170 kms away, the police have estimated their numbers at around 12,000 to 15,000.
“We will not backtrack till our demands are met,” said Ashok Dhawale, president of AIKS.
The protesters are marching for transfer of forest land that they been tilling for generations, a complete farm loan waiver and a minimum support price for crops that’s at least 1.5 times the cost of production among other demands. A large part of these protestors are tribals and the issue of their rights to land has been pending since 2006 after the Forest Rights Act was enacted.
50-year- old Ulusha Choudhry, who hails from Nashik, and has been marching since day one, said his ancestral land has been taken over by the forest department. “All we want is that should give back our land which we are tilling from ages. However, all we got so far are empty promises.’’
Similarly, 67-year-old Kashibau Gaikwad from Surgana taluka said it was hunger, which forced her to undertake the march. “The unseassonal rains destroyed our crops. In addition, the land is still not transferred in our name. We have no choice but to march for our livelihood,” said Gaikwad who is ailing.
The march also took a political hue on Sunday with leaders from the Shiv Sena, the Peasants and Workers Party and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena meeting the protesters or reaching out to them with their support. All opposition parties have lent their support to the agitation.
“Farmers are merely vote banks for the political parties and are forgotten once the elections are over. Give MNS a chance and I will not leave a single demand unfulfilled,” said Raj. “Keep your anger intact and display it during the elections,” he added.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, also said his party was backing the farmers. “It’s unfortunate that farmers have to walk all the way to the state’s capital to express their woes. We are completely backing their movement. I have told our legislators to raise their issue in the assembly... if so many farmers are coming to protest, where has the money for the farm loan waiver gone ?’’