Remarkable Farmers’ Struggles in India: Some Notes from Maharashtra and Rajasthan

Abstract

Introduction

The last couple of years have seen a remarkable wave of peasant resistance in two states of Central India, namely, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These struggles caught the imagination of the peasantry and the people, and received their unstinted support, not only in those states but also all over the country. The farmers’ organizations have been agitating against the betrayal of the State and Union Governments, both led by the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in implementing farmer loan waivers and a promised Minimum Support Price (MSP), at 50 per cent above the cost of production, and the stringent application of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), to recognize the land titles and rights over forest produce of the much impoverished Adivasi people. This betrayal has been opposed by farmers and agricultural workers and has been led by the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) all over the country. However, my focus in this article is on the recent struggles in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, which have succeeded in bringing farmers issues into public debate.

Peasant Struggle in Rajasthan

The wave of struggles in Rajasthan started over a decade ago. Last year, the peasantry in Rajasthan under the Kisan Sabha banner won a significant victory after their resolute struggle lasting 13 days. From 1 September 2017, lakhs of farmers gheraoed (surrounded) different district headquarters on the call of Rajasthan Kisan Sabha for a mahapadav (sit-in). For 3 days, from 11 to 13 September, there was also rasta roko (road blockade) across the state, bringing about 20 districts to a standstill. Only ambulances and essential services functioned. The peasant movement received unprecedented support from all sections of society, making it a truly people’s movement. The insensitive BJP Government led by Vasundhara Raje Scindia was forced to bow down and accept many of the demands of the peasantry after 13 days of struggle and talks with the Kisan Sabha leadership. The talks went on in four phases from 1:00 pm on 12 September and ended on 14 September, at 1:00 am.

The BJP Government was forced to agree to loan waiver of up to ₹50,000, which was expected to benefit 8 lakh farmers; give assurances that the State Government will write to the centre seeking implementation of Swaminathan Commission Recommendations on MSP in a time-bound manner by working out modalities; purchase groundnut, green gram (moong), and white gram (urad) at MSP at all district headquarters within 7 days; withdraw hikes in electricity rates for drip irrigation; payment of fellowships with arrears to students belonging to schedule castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes; relaxation in restrictions in sale of cattle, and protection of crops from stray cattle and wild animals; increase pensions to ₹2,000 per month, which had earlier been agreed in principle; provide insurance claim for failure of canal irrigation and stopping harassment of traders and farmers by the police.

Under the intense public pressure of the September struggle led by the AIKS, the State Government was forced to take some steps in the following few months. However, it backtracked on its main promise of a loan waiver. The Rajasthan Government, in its recent Budget, announced a one-time loan waiver up to ₹50,000 for small and marginal farmers who had defaulted on short-term loans from cooperative banks. It announced a loan waiver amount of ₹8,000 crore. The budget announcement covers waivers of only short-term loans from cooperatives and does not include long-term loans provided by cooperative banks for irrigation and other purposes. Aimed at overdue loans of small and marginal farmers at the cooperatives, the waiver is not meant for those farmers who are repaying the amount on time. Furthermore, chief minister Vasundhara Raje immediately after the budget also stated that there was no guarantee for the fulfilment of the budget proposals!

To counter the betrayal by the Rajasthan Government, the AIKS decided to carry out a Jaipur March on 22 February 2018. Four main jathas were held, whereby groups of protesters walked through the state to mobilize people. These began from 12 February onwards, from Nagaur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Kota; all of them began from places, which had seen the martyrdom of peasants, workers and students. They were led by AIKS Vice President Amra Ram, State President Pema Ram, State General Secretary Chhaganlal Choudhary, State Vice President Duli Chand Borda and others. Several other sub-jathas covered over 5,000 villages of Rajasthan on foot. All these jathas received encouraging response from the peasantry, since discontent was already brewing among them against the betrayal by the BJP regime.

Alarmed at the response of the peasantry, and rattled by the recent huge BJP defeats in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha by-elections in Alwar, Ajmer and Mandalgarh, the BJP State Government headed by Vasundhara Raje Scindia launched a cowardly campaign of repression. Two days before the Jaipur March, on 20 February, it arrested AIKS leaders Amra Ram, Pema Ram, Hetram Beniwal, Sheopat Meghwal, Pawan Duggal and 165 others, and remanded them to judicial custody. Apart from them, over 2,000 peasant activists were detained in police stations across the state.

The AIKS leadership immediately responded by calling for burning the effigies of the authoritarian BJP Chief Minister in all districts, tehsils and villages in the state on 21 February. This action met with tremendous response all over. A complete Bandh was held in Sikar that day, fully supported by shopkeepers and all other sections.

From 21 February, the government sealed the capital Jaipur and prevented peasants from entering it with the help of a massive police force. It also prevented farmers from moving out of their villages and tehsils by threatening the bus drivers with dire consequences. Not to be outdone, the farmers responded by blocking highways wherever they were stopped.

Massive Resistance

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and the AIKS at the national level strongly condemned the repression let loose by the BJP State Government and called for the immediate release of all AIKS leaders and for the implementation of the September assurances given to the peasantry. The CPI(M) statement said:

[b]ulldozing even the minimum democratic right to protest, the Raje Government has once again revealed its authoritarian character by using the police against the Kisan movement and arresting the leaders. This shows the desperation of a Government that is increasingly getting isolated from the people.

The AIKS statement said:

[t]he discredited BJP Government is only exposing its fear of the Kisan mobilization by this act. Democratic protests cannot be stifled by repressive measures. We warn the BJP Government in Rajasthan that this move will be countered by massive mobilization and the movement will go on until the anti-peasant, anti-worker and anti-poor Vasundhara Raje regime is defeated.

On 22 February, AIKS President Dr Ashok Dhawale and AIKS Joint Secretary Dr Vijoo Krishnan rushed to Jaipur. In spite of the repression unleashed by the government, hundreds of farmers had gathered at the Kisan Mazdoor Bhavan. They were addressed by leaders of the AIKS, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the All-India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and other organizations.

After this, AIKS central leaders Ashok Dhawale and Vijoo Krishnan, along with AIKS Rajasthan Treasurer Gurcharan Singh Mour and others went along the national highway to Sikar and addressed two large meetings of thousands of farmers who had been stopped by the police and also had promptly blocked the highway at Tantiawas Toll Naka and at Reengus. In the evening, they reached the historic spot of Ramu ka Baas junction near Sikar that had been the epicentre of the September Kisan struggle.

At Sikar, the scene was just amazing! From 11:00 am, over 20,000 farmers from Sikar district, who had been stopped by the police from proceeding to Jaipur, had militantly but peacefully blocked both sides of the national highway. They included hundreds of women farmers in their traditional red chunaris. There were also thousands of angry peasant youth and students. The entire area had turned into a massive public meeting that had continued the whole day, interspersed with peasant songs and dances.

At Sikar, the AIKS central and state leadership reviewed the situation and decided that unless the government unconditionally released all the arrested leaders and activists, (a) the huge Mahapadav (massive blockade and sit-in) at Sikar would continue indefinitely; (b) the next day, 23 February, there would be state-wide demonstrations outside all the district and tehsil headquarters; and (c) on 24 February, there would be a state-wide Chakka Jaam, that is, a road blockade.

Accordingly, the 23 February demonstrations were widely held by thousands of farmers all across the state. The State Government had already come under intense fire from the media and from all democratic sections for its ham-handed repressive tactics. Under all this public pressure, on the night of 23 February, the State Government was forced to release all the AIKS leaders and activists. It was only after Amra Ram reached the Mahapadav (massive sit-in) at Sikar after midnight and addressed the huge gathering that the state-wide agitation was called off. Thousands of peasants had camped there from 11:00 am on 22 February up to 3:00 am on 24 February!

Subsequently, the Rajasthan Government had to invite the Kisan Sabha for talks and was forced to concede an expansion of the loan waiver scheme, waiving of highway toll tax for farmers’ private vehicles, etc. This was another major victory of the Kisan Sabha struggle.

The Long March in Maharashtra

The Kisan Long March in March 2018 was the culmination of 3 years of constant struggle led by the AIKS in Maharashtra, since October 2015.

It was truly an amazing struggle, the likes of which have not been seen in Maharashtra in recent times. It caught the imagination of the peasantry and the people, and received their unstinted support, not only in the state but also all over the country. It received the backing of parties and organizations all across the political spectrum. During the week of 6–12 March, the Long March of nearly 200 kilometres became the centre of attention for the entire national and state media. Print, electronic and social media resonated with the march. The number one hash tag for the march in India was #KisanLongMarch.

The Long March began in Nashik. Twenty-five thousand farmers, including thousands of women, took the first step. The March concluded in Mumbai with over 50,000 farmers. It was an ocean of red: the red flag of the AIKS, red banners, red flags, red caps and red placards with our slogans.

The largest mobilization of peasants came from Nashik district. Thousands of Adivasi (tribal) peasants marched under the inspiring leadership of AIKS former State President J.P. Gavit (a seven-time Member of the Legislative Assembly). The next largest contingent came from the Thane–Palghar district, followed by the Ahmednagar district. Farmers came from other districts as well. Their numbers swelled on the last 2 days of the Long March.

Condemnation of the BJP Betrayal

During the past 2 years, the BJP Central and State Governments had given certain specific assurances to the Indian peasantry. They had said that they would accept the demands for a series of concerns, such as:

farm loan waiver;

remunerative prices;

implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission of Farmers (2006), chaired by Dr M.S. Swaminathan;

stringent implementation of the FRA;

increase in various pension schemes for poor peasants and agricultural workers;

compensation for losses sustained by farmers due to the disastrous pest attacks (such as pink bollworm on cotton);

vesting of temple and pasture lands in the name of the tiller;

opposition to acquisition of peasant land in the name of fancy and elitist projects, such as the bullet train and super highways;

issues connected to the public distribution system;

complete change in the river-linking scheme that is to start in Nashik, Thane, and Palghar districts, regarding which the AIKS demands that the tribal villages not be submerged and that the water be made available to these districts and to other drought-prone districts in Maharashtra.

Over the past 2 years, the BJP Governments at the centre and at the state have betrayed the assurances given to the peasantry. This list of demands and grievances has been ignored. The Kisan Sabha organized the Long March to condemn the BJP State and Central Governments for their consistent betrayals.

Background of Mass Struggles

As noted above, the Long March in March 2018 was the culmination of 3 years of constant struggle led by the AIKS in Maharashtra, since October 2015. A state-wide AIKS campaign, called the Peasants Rights Awareness Campaign, was launched for a month from 5 October to 10 November 2015. Extended AIKS district council meetings were held in 24 districts of the state. The AIKS leaders Dr Ashok Dhawale, Kisan Gujar and Dr Ajit Nawale, along with other state office-bearers, attended all these meetings. In these meetings, the burning issues of peasant struggle were identified, the nature of the struggle was discussed and the steps for organizational strengthening were decided.

In the second week of December 2015, over 50,000 peasants under the AIKS banner came onto the streets in 29 tehsil centres of 15 districts in all the five regions of the state, on the four issues of land rights, loan waiver, remunerative prices and drought relief.

On 7 and 8 January 2016, respectively, the AIKS held two regional-level loan-waiver and drought relief conventions at Selu in Parbhani district for the Marathwada region and at Malkapur in Buldana district for the Vidarbha region. Both were well-attended.

The AIKS and its allied organizations, CITU and AIAWU, held a joint state convention on 31 October at Parbhani. A call was given for a joint action on 19 January 2018. That day, over 1,330,000 workers, peasants and agricultural workers held a massive joint state-wide jail bharo [fill the jails] stir for their demands against the BJP-led Central and State Governments. The largest number of those arrested—over 92,000—was of the AIKS.

On 28 January, the AIKS held a state-level convention in Nashik that gave a clarion call for an unprecedented state-wide siege (mahapadav) of 100,000 peasants from 29 March onwards in Nashik city. This struggle call was the culmination of the 6-month long AIKS campaign in Maharashtra outlined above. Two lakh persuasive and attractive leaflets and 12,000 posters for the campaign were published by the AIKS, and they were distributed to all the districts in the convention itself. District councils later also published thousands of leaflets.

From 7 February to 1 March, 23 AIKS district conferences were held after village and tehsil conferences. They prepared for the struggle and also strengthened the organization.

One Lakh Peasants Laid Siege to Nashik

As a result of all these intensive preparations, the AIKS held a historic one lakh strong independent state-wide rally on 29 March 2016. The AIKS also held an unprecedented day and night sit-in, satyagraha, for 2 days and 2 nights on 29–30 March at the CBS Chowk in the heart of Nashik. This satyagraha paralysed the city. The AIKS highlighted four issues for our struggle:

land rights under the FRA (2006);

loan waiver for peasants;

higher remunerative prices; and

drought relief.

This militant peasant action received massive and sustained coverage in both print and electronic media. Sections of the electronic media covered it live on both days. This struggle placed the AIKS for the first time in a long time at the centre stage of the peasant movement in Maharashtra. The rally was addressed by CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah, renowned journalist P. Sainath, AIKS leaders Dr Ashok Dhawale, J.P. Gavit MLA, Kisan Gujar, Dr Ajit Nawale and leaders of other mass organizations.

On 30 March, the beleaguered Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis invited the Kisan Sabha for talks. A 1 hour discussion was held with the Chief Minister, three other Ministers and senior officials in the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, in the midst of the assembly session. Some of the demands were conceded, but were never implemented. Therefore, the AIKS began concerted struggles for their implementation.

Struggle for Drought Relief

On 3 May 2016, around 1,000 peasants and students from all the eight districts of the Marathwada region, led by the AIKS and the SFI, broke two police barricades and marched right inside the compound of the Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner’s Office. This militant action was conducted for the burning demands related to the grim drought situation in the region. The agitators occupied the office for over an hour until the officers agreed to hold a meeting with the AIKS-SFI delegation the next day, in which all official dealings with drought-related issues were summoned from all the eight districts. For 2 days and 1 night on 3–4 May, all the agitators camped right outside the Commissioner’s Office.

Under this pressure, in the meeting that was held on 4 May, most of the major demands that lay within the administration’s purview were conceded. The specific demands that were conceded related to the provision of drinking water, work and wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act of 2005), fodder for cattle, agricultural inputs for peasants, fee waiver for students, land issues related to temple lands and forest lands, among others. The grave nature of the drought and the militant actions of the AIKS and the SFI forced the print and electronic media to cover the Aurangabad struggle.

Ten-thousand-strong ‘Coffin Rally’ in Thane

The AIKS led a 10,000-strong novel ‘Coffin Rally’ in Thane city, near Mumbai on 30 May 2016, to focus on the issue of peasant suicides. The peasants carried bamboo frames (called tirdi in Marathi) covered with white cloth, on which dead bodies are carried. This dramatically highlighted the grave issue of suicides of debt-ridden peasants in Maharashtra. This rally, which was addressed by AIKS President Amra Ram, was widely covered by the media, especially since it highlighted the grave issue of mounting peasant suicides. The subsequent state conference at Talasari in Palghar district on 31 May and 1 June was attended by AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah.

Fifty-thousand-strong Maha-gherao in Wada

On 3–4 October 2016, over 50,000 Adivasi peasants, women, youth and students from various tribal districts of Maharashtra held a gherao of the house of the BJP Tribal Development Minister at the sub-divisional centre of Wada in Palghar district. The struggle was jointly led by the AIKS, AIDWA, DYFI, SFI and Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM). The main issues were the stringent and immediate implementation of the FRA, malnutrition-related tribal child deaths, work and wages under MNREGA, the plight of the Public Distribution System (PDS), health services and the educational problems of tribal students.

The gherao continued for 16 hours, and all highways leading from Wada to Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi, Palghar, Dahanu, Talasari, Surat, and Nashik were completely blocked. Fearing this action, the minister had fled a day before the blocakade. When the people refused to move, the Minister had to send the state Tribal Development Commissioner for talks with the delegation and had to send a fax agreeing to a high-powered meeting in the state secretariat at Mumbai on 7 October. It was only after a four-hour nightlong discussion with the Commissioner, where he conceded to many demands, that the gherao was lifted at dawn on 4 October, with a huge public meeting.

The delegation also met with the Tribal Development Minister, half a dozen secretaries of related departments, and half a dozen district collectors of tribal districts, on 7 October, in Mumbai. The meeting continued for over 5 hours. The Minister was forced to concede several long-standing demands about FRA implementation, malnutrition-related tribal child deaths, demands related to the MNREGA, PDS, education and other issues. The minutes of the meeting and a special government circular were released to all concerned officials in the state, which put the demands conceded in writing. This struggle resulted in a major victory. There was some initial progress in implementation, but it then floundered.

Whipcord Rally at Khamgaon

On 11 May 2017, the AIKS organized an ‘Aasood’ (Whipcord) State Convention followed by the ‘Aasood’ State Rally to the house of the BJP state Agriculture Minister at Khamgaon in Buldana district of Vidarbha region to focus on the issues of peasant suicides, loan waiver and remunerative prices. Mahatma Jotirao Phule had written a celebrated book in 1881, entitled The Whipcord of the Peasant (Shetkaryacha Aasood). It was from this that the Whipcord Rally was named (the whipcord is a form of braided cotton, used to make cloth or whips). All these independent struggles over 2 years put the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha for the first time in the mainstream of the peasant movement in the state and helped it to become a key constituent of the united peasant struggle that began in June 2017.

Historic Farmers’ Strike

In the historic united Farmers’ Strike that lasted for 11 days from 1–11 June 2017, the AIKS played a crucial role. Farmers refused to get their milk, vegetables and fruits for sale in the markets in the cities. The AIKS took the lead in bringing other farmers’ organizations together to continue the strike when some blacklegs tried a sell-out in a midnight meeting with the Chief Minister on 2–3 June. Due to his role in opposing this sell-out at that meeting, AIKS state general secretary Dr Ajit Nawale was elected Convenor of the Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Organizations. A massive joint Maharashtra Bandh was successfully held on June 5 to support the farmers strike, followed by other large mass actions.

On 11 June, a group of five Ministers of the State Government was forced to hold talks with the Coordination Committee and they publicly agreed to give a complete loan waiver to the peasantry. But within a fortnight, although it announced a deceptive loan waiver package of ₹34,000 crore and a waiver of up to ₹1.5 lakh per farmer, it betrayed its promise of a complete loan waiver and imposed several onerous conditions that would leave a great majority of farmers out of the loan waiver orbit.

Massive joint agitations were held against this betrayal, including a united campaign tour of 15 large district conventions in July, that mobilized over 40,000 farmers despite the monsoons and a state-wide Chakka Jaam (Road Blockade) on 14 August, in which over 2 lakh farmers blocked national and state highways at over 200 centres in 31 districts of the state. The AIKS participation in this joint Road Blockade action was the largest—over 85,000.

By a conscious decision, all the above independent and united struggles by the AIKS were peaceful and disciplined. This campaign targeted the State Government and the BJP-led Central Government for its anti-peasant, anti-people, pro-crony corporate and neoliberal policies and its dangerous communal and casteist conspiracies.

When the State Government refused to relent on both the crucial aspects of loan waiver and land rights, the AIKS again decided to take up cudgels against the betrayal of the BJP State Government, and took the decision of the Long March and the Assembly Gherao.

Shocking Reality

Two shocking objective facts explain the massive peasant response to all these struggles.

The first was the question of farmers’ suicides. Since the advent of neoliberal policies in agriculture, initiated by the Congress Government in 1991 and carried forward with great speed by successive Congress and BJP Governments—the Modi Government being the worst culprit—400,000 debt-ridden farmers in India have been forced to commit suicide in the past 25 years. These figures come from the National Crime Records Bureau of the Union Home Ministry. Maharashtra has the notorious distinction of being the largest ‘graveyard of farmers’, accounting for nearly 75,000 peasant suicides in the same period.

The second was the question of the starvation of children in Adivasi (tribal) areas. Thousands of Adivasi children in the state, and also all over the country, die every year due to malnutrition and starvation. This is a result of multiple factors such as landlessness and unemployment, as well as the breakdown of the public distribution system and the healthcare system.

These two searing facts are enough to throw a blinding light on the deepening agrarian crisis and agrarian distress in the state and the country.

Preparations for the Long March

In Sangli, at the AIKS State Council meeting on 16 February, a decision was taken to hold the Long March. The AIKS collective state leadership began to make meticulous preparations for this enormous endeavour. We had barely 3 weeks before the March was to take place. The AIKS wanted to begin the March on 6 March, a few days after Holi (1–2 March). The State Assembly would be in session.

The most important task was mobilizing peasants for the March. Hundreds of meetings were held in the villages, thousands of leaflets were distributed, and registration drives were conducted. A press conference was held in Mumbai on 21 February and at Nashik on 2 March, to publicize the Long March.

The question has often been asked, how were the logistics of the Long March dealt with? Rice, dal, chillies, oil and firewood for the food of the participants was collected by peasants from the villages themselves and was stored in several tempos. The tempos used to go ahead of the marchers and volunteers would cook and keep the food ready for the marchers when they reached the designated spots every day for lunch and dinner. Hired water tankers for drinking were stationed at various points along the way. An ambulance with a doctors’ team of Kisan Sabha sympathizers and the necessary medicines collected by the CITU-affiliated Medical Representatives Union were kept along the Long March. The AIKS state and Nashik district office bearers made three reconnaissance trips from Nashik to Mumbai and back to decide on the appropriate places to have lunch, dinner and to rest in the night. This was in itself a difficult task.

The marchers walked an average of 30–35 km per day in the scorching sun and on the second last day, the distance that had to be covered stretched to 43 km! It goes without saying that all AIKS leaders walked with the peasants throughout.

There were thousands of women in the march. Their grit and determination was amazing—and also humbling. Many of them walked barefoot, with bruised and bleeding feet. These women were specially lauded and saluted.

The way that tens of thousands of poor and landless peasants marched relentlessly with determination 30–35 mm per day for 7 days in scorching heat, hundreds of them barefoot, bruised and bleeding on tar roads, stirred the conscience of the nation. It evoked not only massive public support for their cause but also massive public anger against the callous and insensitive BJP-led State Government. It made people aware of the economic injustice and social inequality prevailing in the country. This sight must have made many people want to fight against injustice and inequality.

During and after the strenuous march every night, hundreds of men and women still had the energy to sing and dance to the tune of their quaint musical instruments. Culture was an inseparable part of their lives. That they did this night after night despite all the physical exertion was, indeed, admirable, and it enthused all others too.

Overwhelming Response from the People and the Media

The people responded with great love and appreciation for the Long March. People from the working class and middle class—Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Dalits—welcomed the March with open arms in several localities. Groups of hundreds of people, including youth and women in large numbers, congregated at various spots en route to felicitate the marchers. They donated generously, both in cash and kind. Ordinary people came forward to give us water, sharbat (local cold drink), biscuits, food and even footwear. It was indeed an unprecedented show of spontaneous support and solidarity.

Many of the ordinary people who met us in Mumbai city, including several media persons and even some in the police explained to us the reason for their solidarity. This is the sum and substance of what they said: we are also the children of farmers; our roots lie in the villages; we know the plight of farmers; and that is why we have come out in your support.

The biggest and most spontaneous reception to the Long March was in the Dalit locality of Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar at Ghatkopar, in Mumbai, the very place that had seen the shooting down of 11 Dalits in police firing under the BJP–Shiv Sena regime 20 years ago. The Dabbawalas of Mumbai also contributed their mite to the cause. In the most touching move, farmers from Raigad district under the leadership of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) brought 1.5 lakh rice bhakris (a kind of wheat bread) and dry fish for the marchers on the last day at Azad Maidan. The CITU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI in Mumbai and Thane–Palghar districts launched a campaign among the people in support of this Long March, but the mass response went far beyond that. This response of the people further steeled the marchers in their resolve.

The CPI(M) Maharashtra State Committee had, of course, given full support to this Long March right from the beginning. Another Left party, the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) had also supported it throughout. The CPI leaders were present at Nashik to greet the march when it began. All other political parties except the BJP, that is, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi, Republican, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and also the Shiv Sena, which are partner in the State Government, openly supported the Kisan Sabha Long March and their top leaders either joined the march for a time, or pledged their support when it had stopped for the night at Sion, or when it culminated at Azad Maidan. The massive response of the people and the media were the key reason for this unprecedented support of many unlikely forces right across the political spectrum.

The print, electronic and social media all over the country played a magnificent role. That highlighted not only the Kisan Long March but also the deep agrarian crisis and burning peasant issues with relevance for the whole country. It began with a video taken by Dr Ajit Nawale of tens of thousands of farmers marching down the hill of the Kasara Ghat near Igatpuri on the morning of day three, with the picturesque view of hills on one side and valleys on the other. The red banners, red flags, red caps and the sheer numbers really woke up the media. The video went viral in the social media, and after that we started getting a lot of coverage in the mainstream print and electronic media right up to the culmination of the Long March.

Sensitive and Humanitarian Decision

The Kisan Sabha leadership took the sensitive and humanitarian decision of walking day and night on the last day, from 11:00 am on 11 March, when the march started from Thane city, to 6:00 am on 12 March, when it reached Azad Maidan in the heart of south Mumbai. This decision was taken to avoid the inevitable traffic snarls on 12 March that would surely have disrupted the final board examinations of tens of thousands of SSC students in Mumbai and would have led to the loss of a precious year in their lives. Tens of thousands of peasants took this decision democratically, at the suggestion placed by J.P. Gavit, by a massive and unanimous show of hands on the night of 11 March, when they reached the Somaiya Maidan at Sion, in Mumbai city. Their noble sentiments were expressed in these memorable words: ‘[I]t does not matter if we have to suffer some more, but we will not let our children in Mumbai suffer’. They had their dinner, rested for an hour or two, and restarted their march to Mumbai after midnight, reaching their destination at dawn. This gesture drew the unstinted admiration of people not only in Mumbai but also all across the country. Several prominent celebrities in India also expressed their appreciation at this gesture.

Government Concedes

All this put tremendous pressure on the BJP-led State Government. Actually, the State Government had not bothered to make any contact with the marchers until 11 March, the penultimate day of the march, when their state Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan met the leaders during the march itself and the memorandum of demands was handed over to him. Initially, before the march began, they had almost certainly underestimated its likely size. Later, the massive response to the Long March of the peasantry, the people and the media, which they had least expected, shocked them into taking action.

On 12 March, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, Eknath Shinde, Pandurang Fundkar, Subhash Deshmukh and Vishnu Savra, along with a battery of top officials of various departments, held a 3-hour discussion with Kisan Sabha leaders in the Vidhan Bhavan. Also present were leaders of the opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress), Dhananjay Munde, Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare (NCP).

General Secretary of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) Jayant Patil, MLC, who had helped the Kisan Sabha struggle all along, and State President of the Janata Dal (Sharad Yadav group), Kapil Patil, MLC, were also present during the discussions.

The Kisan Sabha delegation included Dr Ashok Dhawale, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) J.P. Gavit, Former State President Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Narasayya Adam, ex-MLA, Kisan Gujar, Dr Ajit Nawale, Subhash Choudhari, Savliram Pawar, Sunil Malusare, Irfan Shaikh, Ratan Budhar, Barkya Mangat, Radka Kalangda, Umesh Deshmukh, Sidhappa Kalshetty, Vilas Babar and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) State Vice-President Indrajeet Gavit. These were AIKS state office-bearers who actually walked in the Long March, along with AIAWU state leader Manohar Muley and CITU state leader Vinod Nikole.

In the light of the earlier bitter experiences with the present government, the Kisan Sabha had taken the clear position right in the beginning that it would not withdraw this struggle without official written assurances. These written assurances on all the demands were given within an hour of the conclusion of the talks, with the signature of the Chief Secretary of the State Government. Three Ministers of the State Government—Chandrakant Patil and Girish Mahajan of the BJP and Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena—came on their own to the victory rally at Azad Maidan and pledged to implement the agreement that had been reached. The Kisan Sabha also insisted that the agreement arrived at should be placed on the table of the House by the Chief Minister in the state assembly that was then in session. Accordingly, the Chief Minister tabled the agreement in the House on 13 March.

Concrete time-bound written assurances have been given by the government on AIKS demands concerning the implementation of the FRA, the river-linking proposal adversely affecting tribals in Nashik, Palghar and Thane districts, loan waiver to farmers, mechanism for remunerative prices, vesting of temple lands, regularizing houses on pasture lands, no land acquisition without consent, increase in old-age pensions, improving the public distribution system and compensation to lakhs of farmers in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions who have suffered huge losses of the cotton crop due to pink bollworm pest attacks, hailstorms and other issues. An agreement was reached on 12 March between the Government of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan.

Resounding Victory Rally

The resounding AIKS victory rally of over 50,000 farmers at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on the evening of 12 March was addressed by different political parties and mass organizations reflecting the broad alliance that led to a successful struggle. All the farmers left Mumbai on the night of March 12, with tremendous confidence generated by this victory, buttressed with deep gratitude towards the people of the city, the state and the country who had supported them to the hilt in this struggle. The massive nation-wide public response to this Long March was a tribute to the valiant, peaceful, democratic and unprecedented struggle waged by tens of thousands of peasants under the collective leadership of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha.

A Battle Won, the War Remains

This massive response was also a reflection of the fact that the demands of land rights, loan waivers, remunerative prices and pensions, which were essentially directed against the neoliberal policies of the BJP-led governments in the state and at the centre, were in fact the demands of the peasantry of India as a whole. The Long March was an integral part of a movement of farmers that is breaking out all over the country. We have seen the huge and consistent Kisan Sabha-led farmers’ struggles in Rajasthan and elsewhere in the country. We have seen the major united actions led by broad platforms like the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (BAA) and the Kisan Sansad and Mahila Kisan Sansad organized in Delhi last November by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC).

Now the AIKS Central Kisan Committee has decided to broaden and intensify this struggle all over the country. We have decided on an unprecedented campaign of collecting 10 crore signatures of farmers and all citizens across India to demand a loan waiver, remunerative prices, land rights, pensions and comprehensive crop insurance. On 9 August 2018, the 76th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, lakhs of farmers in the country will submit these signatures to every District Collector and will then conduct a peaceful and democratic country-wide Jail Bharo (Fill up Jails) agitation on these demands. The slogan will be: Just as Mahatma Gandhi told the rapacious British imperialists to Quit India, so also the farmers of the country will tell the anti-farmer, pro-corporate, communal, casteist and divisive Modi-led BJP Government to Quit India!

One more major decision taken is to organize a massive country-wide Mazdoor–Kisan Rally in Delhi on 5 September 2018, jointly by the CITU, AIKS and AIAWU. It is an important step towards worker–peasant unity.

Another crucial gain of this Long March was that the peasantry struggled together as a class, rising above the divisions of religion, caste and creed. The massive peoples’ solidarity with it also cut across all these barriers. It showed that, in the last analysis, class struggle and class solidarity are the only way to fight back the dark forces of communalism and casteism.

One battle has been won, but the war still remains. And after the victory in this battle, this war shall be fought with even greater grit and determination all over the country!