NEW DELHI: Weather-beaten men and women in thousands quietly made their way to the Capital’s landmark Ramlila Maidan where farmers’ outfits are holding a programme to demand farm loan waivers and higher crop prices. The farmers started their march from four nodal points — Nizamuddin, Sabzi Mandi Station, Anand Vihar Terminal and Majnu Ka Tilla.
Over 200 farmers bodies and other organisations participated in the march under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. The farmers’ bodies included the All Indian Kisan Sabha, the Yogendra Yadav-led Jai Kisan Aandolan and Medha Patkar’s National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).
Yadav, who is the leader of Swaraj India, led the ‘Chalo Dill’ rally from Bijwasan to the Ramlila Maidan. Farmers from Odisha, Haryana and Rajasthan joined him .On Friday, the agitating farmers will march to Parliament Street on Friday to protest against the “anti-farmer” policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the Centre.
“Sarkar toh nara dene ka kaam azadi se kar ri hai. ‘Jai Jawan jai kisan’. Par aaj kisan hi roti kai liye taras rahe hai. (The government has been raising slogans of ‘Jai Kisan Jai Jawan’ since Independence. But now farmers are the ones struggling for food),” said Lala Prasad Singh, 58, from Bihar’s Vaishali.
One of the demands of the protesters is the implementation of two Private Member Bills that were introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2017. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader and MP Raju Shetti, who is also a part of the AIKSCC, had introduced the bills in which he had sought a loan waiver and that the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission with respect to the remuneration for produce be implemented.
Sushila Devi from Samastipur, Bihar was one among the many women farmers in the rally. “We want the loan waivers so that we can save our homes. The ‘mukhiya’ tells us to pay Rs 2-3 lakh or vacate the house,” she said.