Farmers camping on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway at Jaisinghpur Khera in protest against the new farm laws started a relay hunger strike on Monday in a step aimed at further intensifying the ongoing agitation.
A group of 11 representatives from different farmer groups at the site are sitting on a 24-hour-long hunger strike to highlight their demands seeking a roll-back of the three new farm laws. Farmers from states such as Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat have been protesting at Jaisinghpura Khera (near Shahajahanpur) on the Delhi-Jaipur highway for the past nine days after the Rewari Police stopped them from proceeding towards Delhi.
National vice president of All India Kisan Sabha and former CPI(M) MLA Amra Ram, who was among the 11 people on hunger strike, said that the relay hunger strike would continue till the government revokes the three laws. “The union of farmers has taken the decision of holding this relay hunger strike at every protest site. At every blockade, 11 people will be on a hunger strike for 24 hours. Today, 11 protestors including me started our fast that will be broken tomorrow, when the next set of 11 people start their fast,” said Ram. He said the agitation was intensifying with each passing day. “Our caravan of farmers is covering a stretch of over three kilometres now. We will not relent till the government takes back the laws,” said Ram.
Addressing a press conference at the Haryana-Rajasthan border on Monday, farmer leaders criticised the BJP-led Central government for furthering the interests of corporates and prioritising foreign investments in agriculture. They said the new farm laws had put the lives and livelihood of nearly 70 crore people who survived on agriculture at stake. “The three new farm laws will remove government control from the farming market. Corporates and big businessmen will start free storage facilities and entice farmers into entering in contracts with them. This will increase the debt burden on the farmers and further weaken the food security,” stated the Samyukt Kisan Morcha through a statement.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing a press conference at the Haryana-Rajasthan border on Monday, farmer leaders criticised the BJP-led Central government for furthering the interests of corporates and prioritising foreign investments in agriculture. They said the new farm laws had put the lives and livelihood of nearly 70 crore people who survived on agriculture at stake. “The three new farm laws will remove government control from the farming market. Corporates and big businessmen will start free storage facilities and entice farmers into entering in contracts with them. This will increase the debt burden on the farmers and further weaken the food security,” stated the Samyukt Kisan Morcha through a statement.
{{/usCountry}}Sanjay Madhav, the state convener of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee in Rajasthan, said that with the movement intensifying, farmers will be skipping a meal on December 23. The day is celebrated as Kisan Diwas (farmers’ day) every year. Madhav said that farmers across the country were also planning to bang plates during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat session scheduled on December 27.
BJP Haryana spokesperson Raman Malik said that criticism of the laws being pro-corporate was flawed. “There are clauses to ensure that the farmers are not short-changed. Land of the farmers stays sacrosanct in every situation. Farmers are only liable to the advances that they receive, whereas a heavier liability rests with the corporates,” said Malik.
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