Farmers' protest: Vehicle march to Azad Maidan on January 23

Women protest against the farm laws outside Veer Kotwal Udyan in Dadar on Monday. Pics/Ashish Raje

Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra will converge on Azad Maidan in the city, intensifying the ongoing agitation against the farm laws recently passed by the central government. They have planned to stage a sit-in at the spot for three days.

More than 10,000 farmers, peasants and workers have been mobilised and united under the banner of Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha's (SSKM) Maharashtra unit. They have planned to take out a ‘vehicle march' to Mumbai on January 23, said the SSKM in a statement on Monday.

The farmers will begin their three-day sit-in at Azad Maidan on January 24, the group said. As earlier planned, they will rally to Raj Bhavan on January 25 and hoist the tricolour at Azad Maidan on Republic Day.

Mumbaikars protest outside Veer Kotwal Garden, Dadar, in solidarity with women farmers and workers, on Monday

The organisations that have come together are the Maharashtra chapters of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Trade Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC), Struggle Committee of Mass Movements (JASS), Nation for Farmers and citizens rights group Hum Bharat Ke Log (HBKL).

Celebrating women farmers

The agitating farmers nationwide observed January 18 as Mahila Kisan Divas. Scores of women workers, farmers as well as Mumbaikars gathered at Veer Kotwal Gardens in Dadar at 4.30 pm in solidarity with women farmers. However, they were not allowed to enter the garden, so they held the event on the footpath outside. They demanded that women farmers, just like their male counterparts, should get land ownership rights.

Advocate Lara Jesani, a member of HBKL, said, "Today's protest is primarily being held in response to the Supreme Court's observation during one hearing. The SC asked farmers' organisations to send women home, as if they have no agency of their own. Women constitute 50 per cent of our population and have an equal right to protest. They also constitute 75 per cent of farm labourers, yet the court thinks that women aren't strong enough to protest. What the court has done is ridicule the agency of women and treated them as lesser citizens."

The SSKM-Maharashtra has put forth certain demands for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state. The group said they want implementation of the Mahatma Phule Loan Waiver Scheme and the Forest Rights Act, and repeal of the 2018 Land Acquisition Act enacted by the previous BJP-Sena Maharashtra government and restoration of the 2014 Land Acquisition Act.

The SSKM said that last Thursday during a meeting, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Cabinet ministers Balasaheb Thorat and Aditya Thackeray "assured full support to the struggle and agreed to take part in the march to the Raj Bhavan on January 25".

Jan 24-26
Duration of the sit-in by farmers