Unanimously agreeing to continue the farmers’ strike in Maharashtra, a core committee meeting in Nasik on Sunday decided to call a State-wide bandh on Monday, excluding Mumbai.
Farmers began their strike on Thursday demanding farm loan waiver and support price for their produce. In a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning, a section of farmer leaders announced their decision to calling off the strike, without consulting others.
On Saturday, a section of farmers from Nasik, Ahamadnagar, Solapur and Western Maharashtra continued the strike, which only intensified on Sunday.
In the meeting at Nasik, farmer leaders clarified that strike would not be called off based on the promises made by Mr. Fadnavis. “We want the implementation of promises... the CM has been making promises repeatedly for months now,” said Ajit Nawale, State secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha.
Apart from immediate loan waiver, the core committee has demanded withdrawal of all cases against protesting farmers.
The committee will again meet on June 7 in Mumbai and a State-wide conference will be held in Nasik on June 8, which will be attended by all farmers’ leaders. A final decision on the mode of protest will be decided then.
On Sunday, despite CM’s claim that farmers had called off the strike, a majority of the market committees remained closed with over 50 drop in arrival of vehicles with vegetables.
Protests were held at Nasik, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Aurangabad and in parts of Vidarbha. Farmer leader Jayaji Suryavanshi, who is accused of brokering a ‘deal’ with Mr. Fadnavis by calling the strike off, too faced the wrath of protesters as tomatoes were thrown at his house in Aurangabad.
Swipe at Pawar
Meanwhile, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil on Sunday accused NCP chief Sharad Pawar of doing little for cultivators when his party was in power. “Why has Sharad Pawar started showing so much concern for farmers of late? His party failed to give a minimum support price (MSP) to farmers during its 15-year rule,” said Mr Patil.
He was replying to the former Union Agriculture Minister’s allegations that the government was trying to create fissures among farmers by leaking reports that it was considering loan waiver for small farmers.
