Soil Test

The overwhelming support to the Kisan Long March left the government with no option but to yield

- Dnyanesh Jathar

Shantaram Bhoye walked for six days to cover the 180km from Nashik to Mumbai. Hailing from Orambe village in Surgana, Nashik, Bhoye tills three acres for a living. But, the land is not in his name. He said he didn’t get something as basic as a ration card because of this, let alone loans.

Thousands like Bhoye made the storm which hit Mumbai on March 12. Wearing red caps and raising red flags, these tribals and farmers, most of them associated with the All India Kisan Sabha, took their battle to the doorstep of the government, as their Kisan Long March reached Azad Maidan, just two kilometres from the Vidhan Bhavan. An estimate said that some 50,000 farmers participated in the march.

The Kisan Long March was the next logical step for the Kisan Sabha, which had been organising farmer agitations in the past few years. In 2015, nearly 30,000 farmers camped in Nashik for two days to press for their demands, which included a loan waiver. In 2016, thousands of tribal farmers camped in Wada taluk in Thane. The demands included a loan waiver and rights of tribals to till forest land. “The unrest among farmers had been growing,” said Prachi Hatawadekar, an office-bearer of the All India Democratic Women’s Association. “On the one hand, we have industrialists looting the country for thousands of crores of rupees and escaping, and on the other, we have our tribal farmers who are, despite the passage of the Forests Rights Act in 2006, struggling to claim their right to till forest land. So, a month ago the Kisan Sabha leadership committee decided to organise the long march as the next step of the agitation.”