Maha farmers vow to stand by their Mandsaur brothers
Denounce police scort given to milk, veggie trucks
Agitating farmers in Maharashtra have extended their support to their Madhya Pradesh counterparts. Ajit Navle, the general secretary of Maharashtra Kisan Sabha, told The Free Press Journal that the killing of farmers at Mandsaur was unfortunate and should not have happened.
“We will be protesting outside the homes of elected representatives. We will put up posters stating that Maharashtra farmers are strongly behind our counterparts in Madhya Pradesh. Those killed in firing were innocent and were protesting just like us. The poor have no rights in the country,” Navle said.
On Tuesday, farmers sealed Talathi offices in different districts such as Nasik, Kolhapur and Solapur. A group of farmers from Puntambe met Maharashtra Navmirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and apprised him of the current situation.
Later, one of the farmers accused Shiv Sena of shedding crocodile tears. The farmers said they expect Raj Thackeray to help them.
“Sena has been saying it will extend support to this government from outside. Neither has Sena pulled out of the government, nor has this government taken any positive action. We came to Raj Thackeray and sought his help,” a farmer said.
The farmers accused the government of trying to break the strike by purchasing vegetable stocks from other states such as MP and Gujarat. “We know this is being done deliberately to break our strike, but we will not open the Agriculture Produce Market Committee markets,” Navle said.
Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, meanwhile, claimed that the ongoing agitation is the result of many years of political apathy.
“For many years there has been indifferent attitude towards agriculture. The political apathy has resulted in this stir. This agitation is not against the (present) government,” the BJP leader claimed.
In a related development, a farmer in Yeola tehsil of Nashik district committed suicide, police said. Navnath Changdev Bhalerao, resident of Pimpri village, ended his life by consuming a poison.
The farmers’ strike continued for the sixth day on Tuesday with supporters locking up revenue offices in villages and tehsils in at least 50 places in Nashik district.
Kisan Kranti publicity chief Chandrakant Bankar said the high-level core committee meeting will be held at Tupsakhare lawns in Nashik City on June 8 to discuss further strategy.
Meanwhile, road blockades to dissuade vegetable trucks and milk tankers have stopped as truck and tanker owners themselves have preferred staying off the roads.
Nashik farmers denouced vegetables and tankers being taken with police escort to Mumbai from Kolhapur and other places.
“This means the strike is not being followed there and we in Nashik are obliged to strike and suffer losses. In Nashik, a tanker cannot be filled because milk collection at village level is stopped. In Western Maharashtra milk collection at village level is on. It’s ironic that most of the farmers’ loans have been given in Western Maharashtra compared to Vidarbha, Marathwada or North Maharashtra,” a farmer said.
In another form of protest, farmers bared their torsos and shouted slogans against the government in Saigaon village of Yeola tehsil of Nashik. The agitationists also staged a morcha.