Barely two months after Mumbai was choked by thousands of farmers who marched to the state assembly seeking waiver of farm loans, farmers across Maharashtra have decided to court arrest on May 14 to protest the state government’s “failure” to keep various welfare assurances it had given to them earlier. Around two lakh farmers are expected to participate in the protest which has the backing of Maharashtra’s trade unions.
Leaders of farmers and various political fronts told PTI that they are planning the ‘Jail Bharo’ protest at taluka and district levels across the state to draw the attention of the government which is not addressing the issues of farmers.
“After the announcement of farm loan waiver, around 2,000 farmers have committed suicide. The loan waiver hasn’t helped in stopping farmer suicides. We don’t accept the government loan waiver. It should be a complete loan waiver for all farmers,” The Indian Express quoted Raghunathdada Patil, who is also part of the steering committee, as saying.
Kishor Dhamale of Satyashodhak Shetkari Sabha told PTI, “Despite giving assurances, the government did not implement them. We have conducted various agitations so far like not paying electricity bills, observing fasts, launching a protest march etc., but farmers could not get any relief.”
He claimed that over two lakh farmers will court arrest on May 14, the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
According to The Indian Express report, the steering committee of farmer organisations, which has called the “jail bharo”, includes the Shetkari Sanghatana led by Raghunathdada Patil, All India Kisan Sabha, Baliraja Shetkari Sangh, Satyashodhak Shetkari Sabha, Akhil Bharatiya Shetkari Sangh, among others.
The report also claimed that the labour unions have extended their support to the jail bharo andolan. “The government is working for the corporates to provide raw material at low rates and cheap labourers for their factories. All the labour unions will take part in the jail bharo movement,” said Vishwas Utagi, convenor of the Trade Union Joint Action Committee.
Maharashtra, which has seen a spurt in farmers’ suicides, has been wrecked by large-scale protests by the peasant community.
On March 12, thousands of farmers from all over the state had reached Mumbai to protest the lack of support from the state government.
According to a report in Huffington Post, the protesters walked 180 kilometres (112 miles) from Nashik to Mumbai over the course of a few days and planned to stage a sit-in protest outside the state legislative assembly building, where the annual budget session was underway.
This was the second major local protest by farmers in the state in less than a year.