Farm laws: farmer outfits in Maharashtra to stage agitation in solidarity with Delhi protestors

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Pune: Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) have called for a state wide agitation on December 3 to protest against the Centre and the Delhi police’s ‘repressive actions’ against farmers protesting the contentious farm laws.  

Speaking to newspersons here AIKS State Secretary Dr Ajit Nawale remarked “This agitation will be like a big jolt to the Centre. A number of farmer and labour outfits will be joining the protests. We will be staging ‘rasta rokos’ (roadblocks) across Maharashtra in solidarity of our protesting colleagues in Delhi.”  

He further stated that the decision to hold a state-wide protest on Thursday had been taken after a meeting of the All India Farmers’ Agitation Steering Committee. 

This is another step to intensify the on-going nationwide agitation against the anti-farmer policies of the Central government, added Dr. Nawale. 

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“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Centre is clearly trying to suppress the on-going farmers’ agitation at the Delhi border. The police are harassing protestors by lobbing tear gas, spraying water-cannons on the farmers and arresting farmers’ leaders. Despite this, thousands of farmers have been defiantly protesting on the Delhi border for the last four days. Hence, our agitation is to ramp up the pressure on the indifferent Modi government to force them to repeal anti-farmer laws,” he said. 

The agitation is to comprise a ‘grand march’ on every District Collectorate and tehsil office in Maharashtra along with the blocking of roads. 

Meanwhile, Shetti’s SSS activists already staged a series of street protests in western Maharashtra and in some districts of Marathwada region. In Sangli, a brief scuffle broke out between a group of SSS activists and police personnel. 

“We will not allow any Union Minister to set foot in Maharashtra unless the Modi government addresses the concerns of the farmers. The hurried passage of these new ‘anti-farmer’ laws, the farmers are more vulnerable to corporate whims and big business,” Shetti said. 

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) unit has extended its support for the agitation by staging a parallel state-wide protest of their own. “While the BJP is saying that these laws are in the interest of the farmers, it is obvious from the protests that farmers think otherwise. They have no belief in the BJP’s rhetoric and its deeds,” MPCC president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat.