Farmers, workers, marginalised unite against Modi government, storm Delhi streets

NEW DELHI: Sixty-four-year-old Samadhan Bhaskar Gavit punches the air with a clenched fist as he says he feels let down by the BJP government in Maharashtra. In April, he was among the 40,000 farmers who marched to Mumbai in the ‘Long March’ — now a frequently-cited symbol of agrarian protest against the BJP rule.
“Maharashtra government promised to give us pattas for forest land. In four months, nothing moved. So we have brought our ‘andolan’ to Delhi. It is the only way to get them to listen,” he said.
Implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, a legislation that grants forest-dwelling communities Individual Forest Rights (IFR) — legal titles to land they have been tilling since before 2005 — and community rights to ensure control over forest resources were among the many assurances the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra had given to farmers. The peasants and workers now say these were empty words. They say jobs remain scarce, rural employment guarantee for 100 days in a year a far cry, debt waivers have not been granted, remunerative prices for farm produce still not available, and even PDS ration cannot be availed in full.
The farmers from Maharashtra were joined by peasants and workers from across 23 states in India. The disenchantment with the Modi government has deepened. And the protests, they say, must continue.
Collectively launched by the All India Kisan Sabha, All India Agriculture Workers Union and Centre of Indian Trade Union, the farmers and workers marched in New Delhi to reiterate their 15-point charter of demands, including debt waivers, land to the landless, implementation of Forest Rights Act, improving the working conditions of MGNREGA workers, ensuring remunerative costs for farm produce in accordance with the Swaminathan Committee report, demanding minimum wages of Rs 18,000 per month for all workers, curbing price rise and providing employment.
Unofficial estimates said over one lakh workers and peasants marched from Ram Lila Maidan to Parliament street in the national capital. As slogans of “haat mein kaam do, kaam ka poora daam do (give us work and adequate remuneration)” reverberated in the air, Union minister Radha Mohan Singh tweeted that government’s various initiatives to double farm income, and using technology to support agriculture. The Congress lent its support to the protest rally stating on social media: We stand with the farmers in their fight for getting an appropriate MSP, loan waiver and their rights on their land.”