Farmers take out tractor rally in Gujarat to protest land acquisition, debt waiver, MSP
Hundreds of farmers from across Gujarat drove their tractors from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar on Monday to oppose the Government’s move to acquire their land for laying electric poles and press for various demands.
The ‘Kisan Adhikar Yatra’, organised by the Congress and various other farmers’ unions, started from Shantipura Chowkdi in Ahmedabad and moved towards the State Capital Gandhinagar with a large convoy of tractors.
Several farmers carried their plough as a symbol of their labour and protest. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) joined the rally to support cultivators.
From Shantipura Chowkdi, the rally will reach Gandhinagar, where a farmers’ meeting has been organised.
Congress MLA Tushar Chaudhary said farmers have multiple demands, including debt waiver, payment of full support price and stopping private power companies from indiscriminately installing electricity poles in their fields without taking them into confidence and paying them proper compensation.
Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda claimed farmers in the state were facing the worst conditions and the highest level of exploitation.
“BJP leaders, and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi himself, used to promise that farmers’ incomes would be doubled. Today, however, electric poles belonging to Adani and other companies are forcibly erected in farmers’ fields. When farmers demand compensation or reimbursement for crop damage, they are beaten by the police, and women are subjected to atrocities,” Chavda alleged.
The police behave as if they were agents of these companies, even as farmers struggle with a lack of fertilisers, the menace of fake seeds, inflation, flawed land measurements, and a lack of irrigation water, on top of which, there are attempts to forcibly seize their land, he charged.
“Despite repeated agitations over these issues, the Government remains indifferent. That is why the Gujarat Congress Kisan Cell, along with various other farmers’ unions, has organised the rally. The Congress has always fought for farmers’ causes, and our struggle will continue until they receive justice,” Chavda said.
Several Congress leaders, including Chavda, Tushar Chaudhary, Lok Sabha member Geniben Thakor, Seva Dal president Lalji Desai, and Pal Ambalia, participated in the rally as it proceeded towards Gandhinagar.
AAP leaders also joined the rally, with party president Isudan Gadhvi saying they stand with the farmers in the fight for their rights.
“We will support this rally. It is a farmers’ rally, not one belonging to any political party. This is a fight for farmers’ rights, which is why we will participate in this rally with full strength,” he said.
