Tribal farmers end stir after Maharashtra govt agrees to accept demands

A delegation of the protesting tribals met Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai today, where the winter session of the state legislature is underway.

Representatives of the protesting farmers outside the Vidhansabha. (Express Photo by Amit chakravarthy)

The farmers and tribals, who began the two-day march from Thane to Mumbai, reached Azad Maidan early Thursday, eight months after a similar protest was held at the venue. The morcha traversed through Dadar and the JJ flyover before reaching the Maidan, adjacent to the Mumbai municipal corporation headquarters.

The farmers and tribals, who began the two-day march from Thane to Mumbai, reached Azad Maidan early Thursday (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha who threatened not to leave the ground until the demands are met, said, “We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands, but the response was lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation.”

Farmers at Mumbai’s iconic Azad Maidan.  Express photo by Prashant Nadkar.

The farmers, struggling to cope with the agrarian crisis, are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding an increase in the minimum support price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation along with the proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by the BJP-led government.

In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands.