NEW DELHI: With the Centre claiming the agitation is limited to the farmers from Punjab, thousands of farmers from Maharashtra are set to join the protests at Delhi borders next week.
Nearly 20,000 farmers will converge at Nasik on December 20 and begin marching the next day under the banner of the All India Kisan Sabha.
They will be joined by AIKS national president Ashok Dhawale at the Delhi borders. “The farmers’ long march from Nasik to Mumbai in 2018 had brought down the arrogance of the then BJP government in Maharashtra,” said Dhawale.
He said if the Centre thinks only farmers from Punjab, Haryana and UP have an objection to the laws, the Maharashtra farmers are prepared to join the historic ongoing battle in Delhi to repeal the three laws.
“There will be no compromise on the fundamental demands of this agitation. The government can come up with any trick to buy time, but farmers have lots of patience,” he said.
AIKS leader P Krishnaprasad said the issue has to be resolved by the government and not the Supreme Court, even as a delegation of peasant leaders consulted senior lawyers to decide the future course of action. The AIKS said no farmer organisation approached the court in the first place.
“The issue needs to be resolved by the Centre and not the SC. It is a struggle by the farmers against a government policy and the executive has to resolve the crisis,” he said.