People's Democracy

AIKS JATHAS GET ROUSING RESPONSE

N K Shukla addressing one of the jatha meetings in Maharashtra. Ashok Dhawale is seen on the dais

Noorul Huda & Ashok Dhawale

REPORTS are pouring in at the All India Kisan Sabha centre, New Delhi about the participation of tens of thousands of kisans and other rural toiling masses in innumerable meetings and demonstrations organised by AIKS in connection with three week All India Jatha programme from four regions of the country. The Northeast and Eastern jatha covering Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Bengal and Orissa, Southern jatha covering Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Western region jatha covering Maharashtra and Gujarat and the Northern jatha covering Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh –– all are now rolling forward, covering the remaining states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. 

All the jathas, along with large number of kisans from adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Kerala would be converging in Delhi on November 20, at the Ramlila Grounds, where a huge rally of kisans and other working people would be held at forenoon. It would be addressed by well known all India and state kisan leaders like S R Pillai, K Varadha Rajan, Benoy Konar, Amra Ram, Dinanath Singh, N K Shukla, S Malla Reddy, Lehmber Singh Taggar, Harpal Singh and others. 

As has been already explained in these columns, the aim of the jatha programme is to focus on the all pervading agrarian crisis arising out of the wrong and pro-landlord, pro-big business economic policies of the central government and most of the state governments. These policies are resulting in extremely low investment on agriculture, leading to stagnation and decline of food production; acute indebtedness of farmers, forcing several lakhs of them to commit suicides in major states; rapid growth in unemployment, starvation deaths and extreme poverty in certain states and areas; undernourishment of 75 per cent of children in the country; import of wheat from abroad; reduced subsidies for inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, power, water, diesel, kerosene, etc; removal of quantitative restrictions on import of agricultural commodities; shrinkage of credit facilities and above all scuttling of land reforms in all states except the three Left-ruled states. The AIKS believes that only through the united, prolonged and sustained struggle of peasantry, can the central and state governments be forced to effect changes in agrarian and economic policies so that the vast sections of the peasantry can cultivate their own lands, earn a decent income and live with dignity.

The fourth jatha, the Northern jatha after being flagged off at Jammu entered Palampur in Himachal Pradesh on November 13, where a meeting was held. The jatha then proceeded to Amritsar district the next day. This jatha is being led by Rachpal Singh, Lehmbar Singh Taggar and Tikender Singh of Himachal Pradesh and Phul Singh Sheokand of Haryana. The jatha will pass through Jalandhar, Moga, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Patiala and enter Haryana. The reports received so far indicate that the North jatha too has been able to rouse the peasantry and they are determined to join the struggle against all odds. 

Two jathas of the North and North East jatha i.e. from Tripura and Orissa merged in Bhagalpur (Bihar) on November 11. Earlier Bengal unit of the AIKS set up a warm welcome for the kisan jathas that came from Orissa and Assam en route to Delhi. 

Bengal AIKS secretary Samar Baora said that Bengal AIKS has incorporated in the charter of demands of the all-India jatha, several state-specific demands. These are:

• Teesta project must be taken up by the union government with financial responsibility

• Reservoirs of water across the state must be made to carry more water

• Riverbank erosion coastal erosion must be appropriately tackled by the union government

• Flood control measures must be initiated by the union government

• Various issues related to inter-state and international rivers must be taken up by the union government

Thousands of rural people, kisans and khet mazdoors, massed in rallies to welcome the jathas. They lined up the highways and sprinkled flower petals on the jathas. Conchshells were blown in a traditional show of welcome. CITU-affiliated unions, too, came forward to organise welcome for the jathas.

The welcoming rallies were attended by AIKS leaders like Madan Ghosh, Samar Baora, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, Tarun Roy, Biplab Majumdar, Anil Basu, and Amal Haldar among others.

The two southern jathas one led by K Varadha Rajan, general secretary of AIKS and other led by S Malla Reddy, vice president and K Balakrishanan, secretary reached Hyderabad on November 11 and the next day there was a big rally in Hyderabad in which thousands of peasants took part. 

IN MAHARASHTRA

Both the Western India and Southern India jathas of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) elicited a rousing response from the peasantry of seven districts of Maharashtra last week, viz. Thane in the Konkan region, Nashik and Nandurbar in the North Maharashtra region, Nanded in the Marathwada region and Yavatmal, Wardha and Nagpur in the Vidarbha region. The presence of AIKS general secretary K Varadha Rajan and AIKS joint secretary N K Shukla in both these jathas galvanised AIKS activists and their speeches were well-received by the peasantry. Apart from these two nationwide AIKS jathas, seven other sub-jathas organised by the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha enthusiastically covered 20 more districts of the state to merge in the two main jathas at various points. 

Thousands of peasants participated in the meetings that were held throughout Maharashtra as part of this jatha campaign. The Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha had published 1 lakh leaflets and 10,000 posters to propagate the message of the jatha campaign and the Delhi rally. In addition to this, AIKS district councils had together printed over 2 lakh leaflets for this campaign concentrating on local issues. Hectic preparations are now on throughout the state to mobilise over 10,000 peasants for the AIKS Delhi rally on November 20.

AIKS WESTERN INDIA JATHA

The Western India jatha of the AIKS was flagged off to a rousing start from the Hutatma Chowk in the heart of south Mumbai on November 11. Hutatma Chowk, which has a remarkable statue depicting worker-peasant unity – of a worker and peasant marching hand in hand – commemorates the 105 martyrs killed in police firing during the historic Samyukta Maharashtra movement in the late 1950s. 

The AIKS Western jatha traversed the four districts of Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Nandurbar for four days from November 11 to 14, addressed 10 public meetings which were attended by over 20,000 people, entered Gujarat on the morning of November 15 and will course through the fighting state of Rajasthan before it culminates in the massive AIKS Delhi Rally of November 20. 

The Western Jatha was led by AIKS joint secretary N K Shukla, who participated in all the four-day jatha programmes in Maharashtra, and by AIKS joint secretary Ashok Dhawale, who will be in the jatha from Mumbai to Delhi. Before the jatha began, these AIKS leaders addressed a well-attended press conference in Mumbai to explain the objectives and demands of the AIKS nationwide jatha programme and the Delhi Rally. 

Among the other AIKS state office-bearers who participated in the Mumbai programmes of the Western Jatha were former CKC member Krishna Khopkar who led a sub-jatha in the Ratnagiri district of Konkan region where the organisation has newly begun, CKC member L B Dhangar who participated for the first three days, and AIKS state office-bearers A B Patil and S M Patil who had led another successful week-long South Maharashtra jatha through the districts of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune to join the Mumbai jatha.

Among those who greeted, flagged off and helped the AIKS Western Jatha in Mumbai were CITU state president K L Bajaj, CPI(M) Mumbai secretary Mahendra Singh, NRMU general secretary P R Menon, CITU state office-bearers P R Krishnan, Ashok Banerjee, Sayeed Ahmed, Hemkant Samant, Vivek Monteiro and S K Rege, BEFI general secretary G M V Nayak, PNB union general secretary Anil Prabhu, AIDWA state general secretary Mariam Dhawale and Mumbai president Sonya Gill, DYFI state general secretary Shailendra Kamble and Mumbai secretary Ashok Pawar, SFI Mumbai president Rahul Kamble, secretary Pravin Manjalkar and many others.

In Mumbai on the evening of November 11, a good public reception to the AIKS jatha was organised at the Dhuru Hall by the Mumbai units of the CPI(M) and the CITU. It felicitated all the jatha participants, was presided over by Mahendra Singh and was addressed by P R Menon and by AIKS leaders. The jatha participants were warmly welcomed at the CITU Bhandup office, where they stayed at night.

On November 12, after another warm reception at the CITU Thane office, the jatha entered Thane district, which is famous for the historic Warli Adivasi Revolt led by legendary AIKS leaders Shamrao Parulekar and Godavari Parulekar. Here the jatha addressed three large public meetings at Ambadi Phata, Kasa and Vikramgadh, where thousands of peasants from the adjoining tehsils came to greet the jatha.

In Thane district, the jatha was joined by AIKS state president and AIKC member J P Gavit, MLA, and by AIKS state council member Gunaji Gavit, both of whom remained with the jatha till it left Maharashtra. Those who were with the jatha in Thane district included AIKC member Rajaram Ozare, MLA, AIKS state office-bearers Shankar Chavan, Rajendra Paranjape and Barkya Mangat, CITU leaders V G Padmanabhan, Suhas Samant, Ramji Vartha and Baliram Choudhary, AIAWU leaders P B Chavan and Haribhau Vartha, AIDWA leaders Mariam Dhawale and Hemlata Kom and others.

On November 13, the Western Jatha entered Nashik district, which had hosted the 31st National Conference of the AIKS in January 2006. It was in this conference that the decision of organising the nationwide jathas and Delhi Rally was taken. 

In Nashik district, two large meetings were held at Harsul and Borgaon, in which thousands of peasants from adjoining tehsils took part. The AIKS in Nashik district had organised its own 7-day long sub-jatha which covered the entire district and which merged into the main jatha on November 13. Among the AIKS leaders who led the jatha in Nashik district were AIKC member Kisan Gujar, AIKS state council members Bhikha Raut, Laxman Gaikwad, Janardhan Bhoye, Savliram Pawar, Bhaskar Jadhav and others.

MAJOR ISSUES HIGHLIGHTED 

The major burning issues taken up by AIKS are: Peasant suicides which have in fact increase after PMs visit to Vidharbha, warier of loans, greater availability & reduced interest on credit, remuneration price for cotton, sugarcane & other crops, strict control on import of foreign agri produce, increase in import duty, more irrigation facilities, end to load-shedding of power, stringent implementation of the NREGA, breakdown of the PDS malnutrition related deaths of tribal children enactment of Tribal Forest Rights Bill with amendment, the serious question of SEZ and peasant displacement & so on.

Another sub-jatha that began from Rajgurunagar in Pune district, the birthplace of Shaheed Rajguru who went to the gallows along with Bhagat Singh, coursed through Pune and Ahmednagar districts to join the main jatha at Nashik. This jatha was flagged off by CPI(M) state secretariat member Ajit Abhyankar and was led by AIKS leaders Mahendra Thorat, C P Deshmukh, Ajit Navale and others. 

On November 14, the Western Jatha addressed three good meetings in Nandurbar district at Prakasha, Taloda and Akkalkuwa. Before that it paid homage to the Martyrs Column at Nandurbar, where five school-going children led by Shirishkumar Mehta, were shot dead by the British police during the freedom struggle on September 9, 1942. This district had been severely affected by the floods in August 2006, and leaders of the CPI(M), AIAWU and AIKS had done sterling work for flood relief to the thousands of rural poor. 

Here the jatha was led by AIAWU leaders Kumar Shiralkar, Ishwar Patil, Nathu Salve, Mangal Chavan, Indira Chavan and by AIKS state office-bearer Jaisingh Mali as well as Kailas Chavan, Narsing Vasave, Tapibai Mali, Masu Padvi, Baja Valvi and Uttam Pawar.

All these three districts of Thane, Nashik and Nandurbar are important centres of the Left movement in Maharashtra and all three have sizable Adivasi populations in which the AIKS and the AIAWU have a reasonably strong base. In all three districts, successful attempts are also being made to reach out to sections of the non-Adivasi peasantry. Thus all the issues and demands of the AIKS Delhi Rally struck a deep chord among the people who attended the jatha public meetings in all three districts. 

AIKS SOUTHERN INDIA JATHA

The AIKS Southern Jatha being led by AIKS general Secretary K Varadha Rajan left Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh and entered the other end of Maharashtra at Kinwat in Nanded district of Marathwada region on November 13. The Southern Jatha was given a rousing reception at Kinwat, where a 3000-strong public meeting was held. K Varadha Rajan explained in detail the agrarian situation in the country and called for intense struggles to change the anti-peasant policies of the central government. He also called for making the Delhi Rally a great success. 

AIKS state joint secretary Arjun Adey will accompany the jatha in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Among those who worked for the success of the jatha in Nanded district were CPI(M) district secretary Vijay Gabhane, AIKS state council members Manoj Kirtane, B V Dakhore, Anil Adey and AIAWU leader Prabhakar Boddewar. 

Two sub-jathas that coursed through Solapur and the other districts of Marathwada region like Latur, Usmanbad, Beed, Parbhani & Hingoli joined in the main southern jatha at Kinwat. They were led by AIKS state office-bearers Nanasaheb Pokle, Pandurang Rathod, Datta Dake, Ramkrishna Shere and Ramesh Devre. CPI(M) state secretariat member Prof Dr Vitthal More and AIKS leaders Ravindra Mokashi, Siddhappa Kalshetty and Prabhakar Telang from Solapur district also played an important part in these sub-jathas. 

On November 14, the Southern Jatha held two large meetings at Mahagaon and Maregaon in the Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, the district in which the largest number of suicides of debt-ridden cotton peasants have taken place. Here the jatha was led by AIKS state office-bearer Shankarrao Danav. On November 15, the jatha will be given a rousing reception at Wardha which will also be addressed by renowned journalist P Sainath, Shetkari Sanghatana leader Vijay Jawandhiya, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti leader Kishore Tiwari, AIKS state office-bearer Yashwant Zade and others. 

In Wardha the main jatha will also be joined by another sub-jatha that traversed the other districts of western Vidarbha, viz, Buldana, Akola and Amravati, under the leadership of AIKS state office-bearers Vinayak Gaikwad and Dada Raipure and AIAWU leader Udayan Sharma, and by yet another sub-jatha from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts. After this the Southern Jatha will address meetings in Nagpur district before it enters Madhya Pradesh on November 16. Another sub-jatha from Gondia and Bhandara districts of eastern Vidarbha will join the main jatha in Nagpur district. The eastern Vidarbha jathas are being organised by CPI(M) state secretariat member Manohar Muley.

Apart from the major burning peasant issues that are being taken up by the AIKS in this entire jatha campaign in Maharashtra, another crucial issue that is being focussed upon is the horrendous massacre of a Dalit family at Khairlanji in Bhandara district last month. The details of this will be carried in these columns in a separate report. 

A special campaign for the Delhi Rally is being conducted by the AIKS in Raigad district among peasants who are battling against the 35,000-acre Maha Mumbai and Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zones that the central and state governments are planning to hand over to Reliance Industries on a platter by displacing thousands of peasants.

The sale of AIKS publications and other Left and progressive literature is also being carried out in a big way in the AIKS jatha campaign throughout Maharashtra and literature worth thousands of rupees has already been sold in the jathas. 

Now all AIKS units in Maharashtra are preparing for the Delhi Rally in a big way, despite the fact that statewide elections to municipal councils in Maharashtra have been scheduled for November 19. Thousands of activists of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha are working with determination to ensure that over 10,000 peasants from 30 districts of the state participate in the Delhi Rally of the AIKS on November 20.