Delhi: Farmers from across India start two-day protest

Lakhs of farmers started descending on Delhi from Thursday, armed with the hope of being heard in the nucleus of power during the two-day protest they are staging to press for their demands. Banded under the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), they are coming from all across the country, and converging at Ramlila Maidan till their march at Parliament Street on Friday. Of the various demands they have made, primary include three week-long Parliamentary session on agrarian crisis, passage of two Bills, debt relief and remunerative prices for their produce.

Around 20,000 farmers reached Delhi through the day, coming fro different corners of the country, 
including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The number is expected to swell to one lakh by Friday when the congregation will start its march towards Parliament Street from 11:30 am. They will march from different points in Delhi including Majnu ka Tila Gurdwara, Anand Vihar Railway Station, Nizamuddin Railway Station and Holi Chowk Bijwasan. Meanwhile, they followed five specific routes as they marched towards Ramlila Ground- Anand Vihar, Nizamuddin and Bijwasan railway stations, Sabzi Mandi station and Gurudwara Bala Sahib, and Sarai Kale Khan.

The farmers were joined by Delhi University students, lawyers, doctors, photographers, even techies who have been mobilising support of the urban middle class over social media for them. Using different hashtags like #DUforfarmers #PhotographForFarmers, people have been urged to come out in support of the crisis agriculturists are facing. “We cannot be callous towards the poor farmers. It is sad to see that the ones who put food on our table, cannot feed or educate their children,”said Divyanshi Malik, a DU student. Meanwhile, #PhotographForFarmers is an initiative by photojournalist Sudharak Olwe, inviting all photographers to document the two-day march or of any farmer and upload them using the hashtag across various social media platforms. 

Belonging to as many as 207 organisations of farmers and agricultural workers, many of the farmers came in trains and other packed into buses and other modes of transport.Those from Delhi and nearby Punjab and Haryana started collecting around 10.30 am, their leaders said. Jamun Thakur, a farmer from Parri village of Bihar's Darbhanga district, said he arrived in the city at 8 am Thursday with over 2,000 farmers mostly associated with AIKS. They started their journey on the Bihar Samprakranti Express on Wednesday morning."We grow paddy and maize. But over the years, we have been facing losses due flood and drought like situation. We demand that the government must do something for us. The Nitish Kumar government has done nothing for us. We had hopes from the Modi government but he too betrayed us," said Thakur.

About 1,200 members of the National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturalists Association reached the national capital in the early hours of Thursday carrying skulls of two of their colleagues who had committed suicide, said their leader P Ayyakannu.The group from Tamil Nadu threatened to march naked if they are not allowed to go to Parliament on Friday.Last year, the group staged protests at Jantar Mantar with the skulls of eight farmers who killed themselves owing to farm losses. “The two-day rally will be one of the largest congregations of farmers in Delhi, the AIKSCC has said. A cultural programme would be held at Ramlila Ground on Thursday where prominent singers and poets from rural India would perform.

WOMEN PRESENCE

• Mounting bank loans, crop failure, lack of avenues to pay off debts and large dependent families form the common thread tying together the numerous women farmers who hit the streets on Thursday 
   
• Around 140 women, under the banner of Karnataka Raja Sagar (KRS), assembled for the protest in the national capital.