Kisan rally: Talks fail , Farmers reject govt’s assurance
NEW DELHI : Delhi police on Tuesday fired water cannons and teargas shells at protesting farmers as they tried to break barricades put up to stop them at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. The Delhi police had issued week-long prohibitory orders under section 144 on Monday, in anticipation of the Kisan Kranti Padyatra organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, arriving from Haridwar.
The protesting farmers are coming to the capital with several demands including farm loan-waiver, friendly crop insurance and support for small and marginal farmers and to implement recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.The BKU began Kisan Kranti Yatra on September 23 from Tikait Ghat in Haridwar. The BKU has accused the Narendra Modi government of going back on the promises that were made in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha election.
As thousands of farmers tried to enter the national capital in a massive protest march, the government Tuesday announced that a committee of chief ministers will look into their demands, even as the protesters stayed put saying they were not “satisfied” with the assurance.The rally was expected to make its way to Kisan Ghat in the city this afternoon. But organisers said that the police were not letting the march enter the city because of the large number of tractors they were bringing along with them.
The protesting farmers decided to stay put at the Delhi border, where they have been stopped by the police from entering the national capital. Naresh Tikait, the chief of Bharat Kisan Union (BKU), which has given the protest call, said the farmers are “not satisfied” with the government’s assurance.
After meeting the protesting farmers at the Delhi-UP border here, Union minister of state for agriculture Rajendra Singh Shekhawat said the government was assuring the farmers to take forward their cause Naresh Tikait, the chief of Bharat Kisan Union (BKU), which has given the protest call, said the farmers are “not satisfied” with the government’s assurance.
In east Delhi, the prohibitory orders issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pankaj Singh under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, will be in force until October 8. In northeast Delhi, the prohibitory orders were issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur and will be in force till October 4.
The police had earlier issued prohibitory orders in east and north-east Delhi anticipating trouble. The rally is an echo of the massive protest of almost 5 lakh farmers spearheaded by BKU founder Mahendra Singh Tikait at Delhi’s Boat Club in October 1988.
Issuing a statement on the ongoing farmer protest at the Delhi-UP border, the Delhi Police has said that the situation has been brought under control and is being monitored closely. “After using water cannon and tear gas shells on a limited scale, the situation was brought under control, Police said. They have also said that some police personnel were injured in the clashes but no serious injury to any protestor has been reported.
At Congress Working Committee meet in Wardha, Maharashtra, the party condemned police lathicharge on farmers. “Lathicharge on farmers on the birth anniversary of Gandhi and Patel is condemned,” a party source said. Senior Congress leaders are expected to join the Kisan Kranti Yatra tomorrow.
Yudhvir Singh, Gen Secretary, Bharatiya Kisan Union, has said that the government has met four-five of their demands: (1) Implements brought down to 5 per cent under GST (2) NGT ban on old diesel vehicles revoked (tractors) (3) Law to prevent sale under low/wrong rate to be drought down
(4) Crop insurance”They didn’t accept demand of loan waiver and complete implementation of MS Swaminathan Commission recommendations. he said.
Union Minister of sate for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said a consensus on most of the demands of farmers has been reached in the meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. “We will go to the representatives and tell them about the discussions,” Singh said. Farmers’ leader Naresh Tikait handed over a letter to MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Monday evening. The letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentions farmers’ demands.
Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Ganhi in a Twitter post has blamed the Modi government for the farmers’ plight, saying that the community cannot even come to the national capital to share their grievances.”On World Non-Violence Day, BJP begins its 2-year long Gandhi Jayanti celebrations by thrashing farmers protesting peacefully on their way to Delhi,” Gandhi said.
The family name of BKU president Naresh Singh is Tikait. His father, Mahendra Singh Tikait made it a formidable surname in North India, when he challenged the Rajiv Gandhi government by bringing about five lakh farmers to New Delhi’s Boat Club near Parliament building in October, 1988. The name, Tikait has about 1,400-year-old history. It is said that the family of Mahendra Singh Tikait was given this hereditary title by early medieval king Harshvardhan of Kannauj. It roughly translates into elder or leader. The title is being used by the eldest son of the family since then.To distribute ceiling-surplus and waste land among farmers: The share of the bottom half of the rural households in the total land ownership was only 3 per cent and the top 10 per cent was as high as 54 per cent. One of the demands of the agitating farmers today is that they should be made the owner of the land they have been tilling for years.
–To prevent diversion of prime agricultural land and forest to corporate sector for non-agricultural purposes.–To ensure grazing rights and seasonal access to forests to tribals and pastoralists, and access to common property resources.–To establish a National Land Use Advisory Service: This would have the capacity to link land use decisions with ecological meteorological and marketing factors on a location and season-specific basis.–To set up a mechanism to regulate the sale of agricultural land, based on quantum of land, nature of proposed use and category of buyer –To give farmers a minimum support price at 50 per cent profit above the cost of production classified as C2 by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)
The protesting farmers of the BKU have put out a 21-point charter saying that they would not withdraw their agitation till the Modi government accepts these demands. The demands include unconditional loan waiver for farmers and full implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “It reconfirms the fact that Modi government is anti-farmers. Instead of providing relief to farmers they are exasperating the crisis further forcing farmers to be under debt burden and distress suicides. We haven’t seen such an agrarian distress in India since independence.”
Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal said, “Delhi sabki hai. Kisano ko Delhi mein aane se koi nahi rok sakta. Kisano ki maang jaayaz hai. Unki maange mani jaye (Delhi belongs to everyone. No one can stop the protesters from entering the national capital. The demands of the farmers are justified and must be fulfilled)
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav says, “This government has not fulfilled the promises it made to farmers, so it is all but natural that farmers would protest. It is unfortunate and we fully support the farmers. The farmers have come out in support of their various demands… If we look at things, in the past over four years, almost 50,000 farmers have committed suicide, mostly in BJP-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh,” Akhilesh Yadav said. (With Agency Inputs).
