The Rajasthan wing of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Tuesday announced to hold a ‘ chakka jam ’ (stop wheels) agitation at all district and tehsil headquarters in the State for two hours on December 3. The farmers will also stage demonstrations to protest against the Centre’s agriculture sector laws.
AIKSCC State coordinator Sanjay Madhav said here that a 10-day-long campaign to generate awareness on the farm laws would involve the events in which the marginal farmers, peasants and agricultural labourers would apprise the common people of their plight. “The public at large should have a clear understanding about dreadful impact of these laws on the rural economy,” he said.
Mr. Madhav said the AIKSCC, which had condemned the police action against the farmers taking part in the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march, would devise a strategy to lay siege to Delhi. “All highways leading to the national capital, except the Jaipur-Delhi road, are closed. Farmers from Rajasthan may block this highway as well,” he said.
Despite the ongoing Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections in the State, the AIKSCC leaders have travelled to remote villages and interacted with the farmers on the threat to their livelihood, confusion on minimum support prices, the weakening public distribution system and the functioning of Krishi Upaj Mandis.
All India Kisan Sabha vice-president and former CPI(M) MLA Amra Ram said the BJP government at the Centre, which was serving the interests of big corporate houses, wanted to destroy small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, small shopkeepers and the rural population. Taking advantage of the farm Acts, big companies would take over the farmers’ land and agricultural produce, he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the lead for resolving the impasse over the agriculture sector legislations. While the farmers’ genuine demands must be met, the Centre’s talks with the farmer unions were a “step in the right direction, but [it was] taken too late,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
Mr. Gehlot said there was a growing concern not only in the country, but in other countries as well, where a sizeable number of Persons of Indian Origin lived, regarding the protest of farmers in India.
