5,000 farmers begin 1,300-km-long march from Nashik to Delhi to support farmers' protest

Farmer protests in Mumbai, pic: AFP

Around 5,000 farmers under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), began a 1,300-km-long ‘Vehicular March' from Nashik, on Monday, to the national capital borders, where farmers from across the country have been protesting demanding the repeal of three recently passed Farm laws. At noon on Tuesday, while more farmers under the AIKS will assemble at Maharashtra's Dhule before they leave for Delhi, another 10,000 farmers are expected to undertake a peaceful protest march from the Collector's Office in Bandra to the Ambani Corporate Complex in BKC to express their unhappiness with the government at the Centre.

Farmers protest at Ghaziabad on Monday. PIC/PTI

Around 5,000 of us will gather at the Dhule border on Tuesday at noon and 2,000 of us will then depart for Delhi via cars, jeeps, trucks and tempos," said Ashok Dhawale, national president of AIKS and working committee member of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC). "The farmers' movement is an all India struggle, and this is something that urban India needs to understand. We want to show that people are coming from 1,300 km away to support the lakhs of farmers.

Mumbaikars need to understand that the Modi government is attacking everybody - it's not just farmers. It's workers through labour codes and the middle class through privatisation of education and health. There is also massive growing unemployment because of which the children of middle-class parents are not getting jobs. This is a battle of the people of India against the government. We are also demanding the withdrawal of the Electricity Bill…which will inevitably increase power charges for the common man in the city, as well as for the farmers in rural areas," said Dhawale.

Dhawale said that the last meeting between the farmers' organisations and Union Home minister Amit Shah had not yielded concrete results, which is why all eyes are on the next round of discussions slated to take place soon. "The situation is simple: We want a complete repeal of the law(s) - not some cosmetic changes. The government is trying to make minor amendments which don't change the basic nature of the laws. The entire law(s) are pro-corporate and anti-farmer," he said.

‘Mumbaikars must support'
On Tuesday, around 10,000 farmers led by the likes of Medha Patkar, Bacchu Kadu, Prakash Reddy, Pratibha Shinde, and Raju Korde, will assemble outside the Collector's office in Bandra (E) at noon and undertake a peaceful protest march till the Ambani Corporate Complex in BKC. Members of the citizens' movement Hum Bharat Ke Log will also join farmers. Activist Feroze Mithiborwala, a leader of the group, said, "Our role is to support the Kisan Andolan. It is important that people's organisations come ahead and support the farmers who are coming to the city and help in mobilising groups. Urban India needs to support the farmers' movement. It is not some side-show happening in rural areas. The demands are very clear: repeal the three farm bills, and incorporate Minimum Support Price (MSP) as a legitimate entity; it should be passed as a bill in parliament because nonverbal assurances of MSP aren't good enough anymore.