Nashik: At farmer rally, focus shifts to govt ‘clampdown on dissent’

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Yechury was speaking at a rally and protest organised by the Left-affiliated Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, whose charter of demands for the protest includes implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations on minimum support price for farm goods, a total loan waiver for farmers, Rs 50,000 per acre of crop destroyed by drought and land rights for traditional cultivators of government or forest land.

Yechury said the Union government had given away Rs 13 lakh crore in tax waivers for industry while simultaneously cutting fertiliser subsidies critical to farmers. “Not just farmers, our children in university after university are being frightened and called deshdrohis. You are also in danger of being labelled thus for showing dissent,” he said, declaring that these were economic and social atrocities against Indians.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the parliamentarian agreed that Maharashtra requires long-term policy to tackle the successive drought years. He said the critical irrigation projects should be completed, and resources must be raised, if needed. “The joke is that more has been spent on the Swachh Bharat advertisements than on the scheme. If we have a Swachh Bharat cess, maybe an irrigation cess is possible,” he said about resources for completing irrigation projects. He also said the state’s apparent focus on agriculture in the state budget is hogwash and nifty number crunching. “If they are not giving MSP, loan waiver or subsidies, there can be no claim of relief,” he said.

Earlier, by morning, thousands had gathered at the ground, most of them carrying clothes and essentials anticipating a stay of a couple of days before the the state government invites the leaders of the agitators for discussions.

Some, such as one group from Jalna and another from Dindori taluka in Nashik, came with huge woks and pots to cook community meals. The organisers said the gathering would stay in Nashik until the government offers to discuss fresh policy measures. As the red flags and placards in Nashik’s Golf Club maidan multiplied, the proceedings took place under the watchful, wary eyes of dozens of policemen.

About 30,000 agitating farmers occupied the main Nashik bus stand square late Tuesday evening leading to a complete blockade of traffic around the city. By 9 pm, the police commissioner and other senior officials had arrived at the spot. The farmers, who said they would continue their peaceful agitation through the night, have given a memorandum to the collector.

“We have given a memorandum to the collector, asking for our demands in the purview of the state government to be addressed immediately,” said Dr Ashok Dhawale of the All India Kisan Sabha.

“We had given a memorandum to the chief minister earlier this month. We hope that our demands will be addressed, including that of a total farm loan waiver,” Dr Dhawale said.