Condemn the Brutal Suppression and Detention of
Peasantry at Ghaziabad by the Central government
A I K M K S
Friends!
Once again farmers rose in protest with the major
demands of complete waiving of farm loan-waiver,
implementation of the recommendations of
Swaminathan Commission, on fixing of minimum
support price, and prevention of suicides of farmers.
Thousands of farmers started their march from
Tikait Ghat in Haridwar, Uttarakhand on September
23rd and planned to reach Kisan Ghat in Delhi on
2nd October. Responding to this call of Kisan Kranti
Yatra given by Bhartiya Kisan Union (Tikait group),
thousands of farmers joined the march all along the
way. To prevent the farmers from entering Delhi, the
Central Government deployed 3000 armed police
personnel at all the highways bordering Delhi . When
the farmers insisted in continuing their march, they
were lathi charged, and fired with tear gas shells and
water cannons. Many farmers were seriously injured
in this police action.
On the one hand Central Government is making
nation-wide grand celebrations on October 2nd, as
the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, the man who
became synonymous with Ahimsa, and on the other
hand it showed its iron heel on the peaceful rally of
farmers to Kisan Ghat with barricades, lathis, water
cannons and tear gas shells.
All India Kheth Mazdoor Kisan Sabha (AIKMKS)
strongly condemns the central government for its
suppression and detention of Uttarakhand peasantry
by police forces.. It gives a call to the
people and all the democratic forces to condemn these
acts of suppression on peasantry and to express
solidarity with them.
The brutal police action did not make the
peasantry run amok but instead thousands sat on the
roads in protest. They raised slogans in protest
against the government and suppression by the police
who were not addressing their justified demands.
The immediate nation-wide protests against this
suppression and highhandedness on the peasantry
of Uttarakhand made the government take a back step
and start ‘fire fighting’. The Central Home Minister
made immediate discussions with Agriculture Minister
and sent adelegation headed by the state agriculture
minister to discuss with the peasant leaders on their
demands. The peasantry rejected this delegation
which offered namesake announcements and petty
November - 2018
assurances. They sat on the roads for the entire night
and continued their protest. This stands as another
example to the rising anger and discontent among
the entire peasantry of our country against the
negligence of the governments in solving their
genuine demands.
In June,2016, in the village of Mandsaur, Madhya
Pradesh, Police fired on agitating peasantry and killed
6 farmers. In 2017 the peasantry of Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu led
militant agitations that could cow down the ruling
classes to get solutions for their woes. This year, in
the month of March, thousands of peasants and
Adivasis in Maharashtra took a 200 km march on bare
foot from Nasik to Mumbai to be heard and get their
woes solved. Whenever the agitations of peasantry
becomes uncontrollable the governments announce
some temporary relief packages which do not address
the real problems but only pushes the agriculture
sector into further crisis.
On the one hand the state and central
governments are increasing the input costs on
peasants by not controlling/regulating the prices of
seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, on the other hand
they are not making institutional credits available to
farmers, not providing facilities to sell their produce,
not providing minimum support price, instead are
hastening measures that force peasantry into the
quagmire of debt. As part of the imperialist’s policy of
alienating small and marginal farmers from agriculture
and undertake contract/corporate farming the
governments are dislodging farmers with the help of
economic tools. This intensified the woes of tenant
farmers and greatly increased the forced migrations
of agricultural labour due to unavailability of
employment in cultivation. Without cancelling all the
deals made with imperialists that are the root causes
for the sinking of tenant farmers, peasantry, rural poor
and agricultural labour into more and more crisis;
without providing ‘land for the tiller’, the fundamental
problems of peasantry are not going to be solved. In
this direction, AIKMKS calls for united agitations of
peasantry with other oppressed sections of the society
to get solutions to their fundamental problems.
3-10-2018
All India Khet Mazdoor Kisan Sabha
(AIKMKS)
3