The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) on Friday strongly condemned the Central government and the Delhi Police’s “repressive” actions against farmers protesting the contentious farm laws in Delhi.
Dr. Ajit Nawale, State general secretary, AIKS, said, “Tear gas and water cannons were used on farmers marching towards Delhi despite receiving permission for the ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest. Several farmers have been injured… we have been giving proposals for the last two months, but the Centre has paid no heed to them. Instead of holding a dialogue with farmers, the government orders the police to crack down on them.”
‘Stopped at borders’
Dr. Nawale alleged that the police were blocking farmers heading for Delhi on State borders. “The police, on the Centre’s instructions, are arresting farmers’ leaders and trying to break up their legitimate protest on the pretext of COVID-19 regulations… the AIKS, on behalf of all farmers of Maharashtra, condemns these actions,” he said.
Dr. Nawale said the Kisan Sangharsh Coordinating Committee had given prior notice of their Delhi march to the Centre, while farmer outfits had written thousands of letters to the Prime Minister and other ministers informing them of their demands.
“In the past weeks, we have been demanding an end to unrestricted imports of agricultural commodities, the lifting of the ban on export of agricultural commodities, the repeal of anti-farmer laws, and guarantee of fair prices for all types of agricultural commodities. There was an urgent need to try to resolve these issues through discussions with farmers’ organisations. Instead, the Central government has resorted to repression. The actions of the Centre are a disgrace to democracy,” he said.
Accusing the Centre of being Janus-faced in its dealings with farmers, Dr. Nawale said on the one hand, the Narendra Modi regime is talking big about doubling the income of farmers, while on the other, it was slyly pursuing policies to reduce their income by importing large quantities of foreign agricultural commodities and imposing export bans on Indian ones.
“There is a huge dissatisfaction among farmers across the country against these policies of the government. This cannot be quelled by oppressing farmers in this manner,” he said.