Government will loot sellers first, then buyers: Protesting farmers

In a massive show of strength thousands of farmers from across the state converged at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyan Bandra at noon on Tuesday to raise a unified voice against the new farm laws The protesting farmers and members of various agricultural organisations said that through the forced laws the central government plans to first loot the sellers and then the buyers and pass on the benefits to the corporatesProtesting farmers near Kherwadi junction Bandra on Monday PicsBipin KokateThe farmers and members of different agricultural organisations had initially planned to take out a protest march from the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyan near Collectorrsquos Office to BKC However they were stopped at the garden by police personnel about 700800 of whom were deployed in the area to maintain law and orderThe agitation was restricted to the premises of the garden and the road adjacent to it The farmers waving red flags represented Kisan organisations from across the state such as Kolhapurbased farmers union Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana SSS and Pratibha Shindeled Lok Sangharsh MorchaProtest was peacefulA senior police officer said the hundreds of police personnel were maintaining law and order since 7 am on Tuesday but faced no problem as the protest was entirely peaceful ldquoThere is a minor traffic congestion but the situation is completely under controlrdquo he said Police had barricaded multiple roads as the area witnessed massive vehicular as well as pedestrian movement Traffic on the Western Express Highway on the Kalanagar side saw bumper to bumper trafficFormer MP and current SSS chief Raju Shetti who led a large delegation of farmers from Kolhapur to the city said ldquoIt goes without saying that we are here to oppose the three farm laws that the central government has tried to force upon us Until the government takes back these laws our sangharsh will go onrdquoFarmers unitedldquoThe government is trying to repeatedly convey that this protest is just of a few select groups of people and is even trying to give it a communal and political colour But the reality is that this andolan protest belongs to farmers from across the nationrdquo Shetti saidHe added ldquoFarmers feel that after the implementation of these laws their land will not remain theirs and that the corporates will snatch it away from them They believe that they wont be able to fix the price of their crops which they grow after immense hard work and trouble Why Because the godowns will be of corporates and the stock limit will be over Now they have all the money so when we farmers go to sell our produce they will lobby and drop the prices and buy all the stock And when we donrsquot have anything left to sell the middle and lower middle class in towns and cities will suffer Their the government plan is to first loot the sellers and then the buyers They will loot everyone just to earn a quick buck I just want to ask the government one thing what kind of an insatiable appetite do you have for moneyrdquoCentre has shut doorsAsked about the talks between the farmersrsquo organisations and the Centre Shetti said ldquoThe government has now shut the doors of communication And we are not budging from our stance Until the government takes back the three laws and implements the Minimum Support Price MSP we wonrsquot budge Why is the government hesitating from giving farmers a fixed MSP Because it knows that if they give the farmers a fixed MSP no private player will be able to come into the agricultural market and make a profitldquoThey the government are most interested in rate fluctuation and to earn profits for corporates If MSP is guaranteed then the market will become stable and private players wonrsquot be able to cut profitsrdquoHe added ldquoFarmers have come here from every nook and corner of Maharashtra The message we want to give the central government is that just because we are quiet doesnrsquot mean that we agree with its stance We are quiet because these laws have been temporarily stayed But if the Maharashtra government tries to implement these laws or even support them the agitation in Mumbai and the rest of the state will be much bigger than DelhirsquosrdquoNoted activist Feroze Mithiborwala said ldquoFarmers from across the state have made a difficult choice We are building support for the farmers in the city We need to have sustained movements in the cities to explain to the farmers that they need to support those protesting at the borders near DelhirdquoLaws only for corporatesMithiborwala explained ldquoAll the three laws are flawed and that is why this sitting with amendments and striking out a line or two from here and there is not going to work The bills were made by the corporates for the corporates Essentially farmers have realised that this is all about corporate farming you will find corporates entering the food sector taking apart the Food Corporation of India and the Mandi system The Mandi system has helped the farmers of Punjab and Haryana and they are the rich farmers of this country Modi has also removed some essential foods from the laws which could now be hoarded by private playersrdquoLastly he pointed that ldquoModi did not confer with the stakeholders and one of them is farmers Whenever a bill is made the stakeholder is consulted For something as big as the farm bills Modi should have sat down with all the Kisan organisations and had a dialogue He did not do that He essentially sat down with the corporate houses and formulated the bill That is the biggest problemrdquoSatbir Singh 68 general secretary of Kirti Kisan Union of Punjab who has also been taking part in the agitations at the border near Delhi told midday from the garden in Bandra ldquoThis is the first time that farmers are travelling from Punjab to Delhi on their tractors to protest agricultural bills They have come to Delhi because it is the question of their farms and their land Thatrsquos why we farmers need to save our land first and the rest will followrdquoWhen asked about the situation at Singhu border he said ldquoThis is not just a movement of farmers who hail from Punjab and Haryana only it is an illusion that the government is projecting as the reality The agitation and protests at the borders of Delhi remain as strong as ever and continue to gather momentumrdquo800Approx no of cops deployed in view of the protest march