Mumbai: With thousands of angry farmers and tribals at its doorstep, the State government scrambled to send positive signals to the protesters. To open a much-delayed dialogue, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sent senior party leader and State Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan as his emissary on Sunday.
Mr. Mahajan met with All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) national president Ashok Dhawale and State secretary Ajit Nawale. Both leaders have been invited to the State Legislature complex for a meeting on Monday.
While Mr. Fadnavis has managed to stall growing unrest in the agri-based economy with promises of welfare schemes and benefits, the poor implementation of the ₹34,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme has lowered his stock considerably. This time, AIKS leaders said, they will not be backing down without written assurances and deadlines.
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After the meeting, Mr. Mahajan said, “Yes, these are legitimate demands. Farmers have walked 200 km. to Mumbai, and we don’t want them to suffer. There have been lapses in the implementation of farmer- and tribal-related schemes, so we will be calling secretaries of concerned departments for the meeting.”
Mr. Fadnavis held a meeting with senior officials and Ministers. Sources said the government was positive about the farmers’ demands. The Chief Minister has also formed a committee comprising six senior Ministers: Chandrakant Patil (Revenue), Pandurang Fundkar (Agriculture), Girish Mahajan (Irrigation), Eknath Shinde (Roads), Vishnu Savra (Tribal Development) and Subhash Deshmukh (Cooperation). The committee will discuss demands raised by the farmers.
The farmers’ body has roped in senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Rajasthan farmer leader Aamra Ram to address the farmers in Mumbai on Monday evening.
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Among several issues, farmers’ woes are hinged around three principal demands: complete loan waiver, remunerative prices for farm produce and implementation of Forest Rights Act for the benefit of tribals. “These are not limited to Maharashtra farmers. The AIKS agitation has successfully brought them to the negotiation table, and we will be pressing them tomorrow,” Mr. Dhawale said.
With the State government considering options to restrict protesting farmers from entering South Mumbai on Monday, Mr. Dhavale added, “We don’t want to put citizens in trouble, We’ll be walking after midnight from Somaiya ground to Azad Maidan to avoid inconveniencing people, but we will enter South Mumbai at any cost.”
According to State government sources, the unprecedented support for the Kisan Morcha in the city caught the administration napping.The history of altercations between the BJP-led government and AIKS dates back to the first-ever farmers’ strike in the State, when Mr. Nawale had drawn attention to the State government’s bid to break protesters’ unity by calling a midnight meeting with a section of farmer leaders.