The
Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has taken a major decision to begin a
‘Long March’ on foot of over 50,000 peasants for a distance of nearly 200 Km
from Nashik to Mumbai. Peasant women will also take part in this March in large
numbers. It will begin from Nashik on March 6, 2018 and will culminate in
Mumbai on March 12. Here the peasants will indefinitely gherao the state
assembly which will then be in session, until their demands are met. This
decision was taken in the extended meeting of the AIKS Maharashtra state
council at Sangli on February 16, in which over 150 leading activists from 25
districts were present.
MAJOR DEMANDS
The Long
March is being organised to denounce the BJP state government for consistently
betraying all its assurances given to the peasantry during the last two years
on issues like farm loan waiver, remunerative prices and implementation of the
Swaminathan Commission recommendations, stringent implementation of the Forest
Rights Act (FRA), temple lands and pasture lands to be vested in the names of
the tillers, increase in various pension schemes to poor peasants and
agricultural workers, issues connected to the public distribution system,
compensation for losses sustained by peasants due to pest attacks and
hailstorms, opposition to acquisition of peasants’ lands in the name of fancy
and elitist projects like the bullet train and super highways, and a complete
change in the river linking scheme proposed to be started in Nashik, Thane and
Palghar districts, so as to ensure that tribal villages are not submerged and
water is made available to these districts and to other drought-prone districts
in Maharashtra.
The Long March
will be led by AIKS President Dr Ashok Dhawale, former state president J P
Gavit, MLA, state president Kisan Gujar, state general secretary Dr Ajit
Nawale, state office bearers Savliram Pawar, Irfan Shaikh, Sunil Malusare,
Subhash Choudhari, Barkya Mangat, Ratan Budhar, Radka Kalangda and others.
SFI-DYFI state leaders will also join the March.
AIKS Joint
Secretary Vijoo Krishnan will join the March from Nashik for the first three
days from March 6 and AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah, CPI(M) state
secretary Narasayya Adam, ex-MLA, CPI(M) central committee member Mahendra
Singh and AIDWA General Secretary Mariam Dhawale will be present for the
culmination in Mumbai on March 12.
BACKGROUND OF
MASS STRUGGLES
Two years
ago, on March 29-30, 2016, the AIKS had led an unprecedented one lakh strong
peasant siege for two days and two nights at the central CBS square in the
heart of Nashik, which had paralysed the city. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis
of the BJP had to invite the AIKS delegation to Mumbai in the midst of the assembly
session and give some assurances.
Since these
were not fulfilled, the AIKS led a 10,000-strong novel ‘Coffin March’ in Thane
city in May 2016 to focus on the issue of peasant suicides, that was addressed
by the then AIKS President Amra Ram. This rally was held along with the AIKS
state conference held at Talasari in Palghar district that was addressed by
AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah.
In October
2016, over 50,000 Adivasi peasants, women, youth and students under the
leadership of the AIKS, AARM, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI gheraoed the house of the
state Adivasi Development Minister at Wada in Palghar district, again for two
days and two nights, and wrested written assurances on issues like FRA and
malnutrition-related deaths of Adivasi children. AIKS Joint Secretary Vijoo
Krishnan participated in this struggle.
Other
impressive actions by the AIKS on the issues of drought, loan waiver and
remunerative prices were organised at Aurangabad in the Marathwada region in
May 2016 and at Khamgaon in the Vidarbha region in May 2017.
All these
independent struggles over two years put the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha for
the first time in the mainstream of the peasant movement in the state and
helped it to become a key constituent of the united peasant struggle that began
in June 2017.
In the
historic united Peasant Strike that lasted for 11 days from June 1 to 11, 2017,
the AIKS played a crucial role. AIKS state general secretary Dr Ajit Nawale was
elected Convenor of the Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Organisations. On
June 11, a group of five Ministers of the state government were forced to hold
talks with the Coordination Committee and they publicly agreed to give a
complete loan waiver to the peasantry. But within a fortnight, although it
announced a deceptive loan waiver package of Rs 34,000 crore, it betrayed its
promise of a complete loan waiver and imposed several onerous conditions that
would leave a great majority of farmers out of the loan waiver orbit.
Massive joint
agitations were held against this betrayal, including a united campaign tour of
15 large district conventions in July that mobilised over 40,000 farmers and a
statewide Chakka Jaam (Road Blockade) on August 14 in which over two lakh
farmers blocked national and state highways at over 200 centres in 31 districts
of the state. The AIKS participation in this joint Road Blockade action was the
largest - over 85,000.
By a
conscious decision, all the above independent and united struggles by the AIKS
were peaceful and disciplined. Throughout the campaign for all these struggles,
apart from concentrating fire on the BJP-Shiv Sena state government, the
BJP-led central government of Narendra Modi was also severely castigated for
its anti-peasant, anti-people, pro-crony corporate and neo-liberal policies and
its dangerous communal and casteist conspiracies.
HECTIC
PREPARATIONS
Now the AIKS
has again decided to take up cudgels independently against the betrayal of the
BJP state government on all the above counts, and hence this decision of the
Long March and the Assembly Gherao.
Hectic
preparations are on all over the state to make this action a success. A press
conference was held in Mumbai on February 21 where the ensuing struggle was
announced. It was addressed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, J P Gavit, MLA, Narasayya
Adam, ex-MLA, Kisan Gujar and Dr Ajit Nawale.
Similar press meets will be held in several districts, with the last one
in Nashik, from where the Long March will begin, on March 2.
Thousands of
leaflets are being printed in each district, the draft of which has been sent
by the AIKS state centre. Extended meetings of the AIKS district councils have
been held and hundreds of village meetings are being organised to mobilise
peasants in large numbers for the coming struggle. Special efforts are being
made to ensure good coverage to it both in the mainstream media and in the
social media.
All in all,
this will be another major mass struggle led by the AIKS in Maharashtra in
defence of the peasantry and against the RSS-BJP regime.
-Kisan Gujar & Ajit Nawale
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