People's Democracy

PEASANT SUICIDES IN WAYANAD

Farmers Stage Dharna in Delhi

COMING from far-off Kerala, as many as 102 farmers and agricultural workers of Wayanad staged on March 26 and 27 a March to Parliament and a 48 hour dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The actions were organised under the banner of Wayanad Farmers & Agricultural Workers’ Joint Action Committee so as to register protest against the agrarian crisis that has of late, according to the committee’s convenor M Velayudhan, forced a number of farmers to commit suicide in the district.

S Ramachandran Pillai, president of the All India Kisan Sabha, inaugurated the dharna, expressing the hope that agitations against farmers’ suicides would develop into a wider unity of peasantry at the all-India level. He congratulated the Wayanad farmers and agricultural workers for their unity and upheld the unity of workers all over India, cutting across political affiliations, as a model for the peasants to follow. He said the farmers’ fight against the policies of globalisation is now entering a higher phase and declared that pressure from the peasantry would compel the union government to desist from implementing the neo-liberal policies that are detrimental to the agricultural sector.

The dharna was also addressed by many other leaders including P Karunakaran, K E Ismail, T N Seema, P Rajeev, M P Achuthan, M B Rajesh and P K Biju (members of parliament), AIKS leaders  Nural Huda, Vijoo Krishnan and N K Shukla, agricultural workers’ leader Sunit Chopra, Kisan Morcha leaders Naresh Firoshi, Suresh Chand, Indian Union National League leaders Ram Singh Yadav and M C Mehrul, Kisan Sabha leaders Sathyan Mokeri and I V Sasankan, JAC leaders P K Babu (Karshaka Congress-S), Prabhakaran Nair (NCP), Koottara Damodharan (Karshaka Morcha), Panchara Muhammed (National Kisan League) etc.  JAC convenor M Velayudhan welcomed the gathering and P S Viswambharan presided over the function. 

On March 27, leaders of the JAC met the union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and submitted a memorandum.