Delhi. The Kisan Mukti Sansad at Jantar Mantar, Delhi continued for the second day today. The children of farmers who had committed suicide performed a play at the stage describing the hardships that a farmer’s family has to suffer. The highly impactful performance by children moved the audience and has been able to shake the urban population of Delhi.At the Kisan Mukti Sansad, potato farmers from Uttar Pradesh also protested against the steeply falling price of potatoes. Aamir, leader of potato farmers from Uttar Pradesh said, “The government wants us to store our crop in cold storage. But the truth is that the price our crop fetches us is way less than the cost of keeping them in cold storage.”
Addressing the Kisan Mukti Sansad, Rani, wife of a farmer from Tamil Nadu who was humiliated to such an extent by bank officials that he was compelled to commit suicide, said, “The bank officials asked my husband how he was able to buy clothes for me if he was unable to repay his loans. Why is it always the poor who are humiliated, what about the rich that run away with crores of rupees?”Speaking at the Kisan Mukti Sansad, Aiyyakannu, leader of farmers from Tamil Nadu said, “While farmers of Tamil Nadu are dying because of drought like conditions, rather than fighting for their issues, the Tamil Nadu legislators are demanding a hike in their own salary.”The children of famers who have committed suicide gathered again at Jantar Mantar today and narrated their ordeal through a hard-hitting play. Describing their sufferings, Ashok Patil, one of the children said, “A number of politicians have visited us in our Ashram and made a lot of promises. But all we get to see is a picture of the politician in the next day’s newspapers.”
“Do they visit us to help us or to click selfies with us,” he asked.Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh, who was also present at the Kisan Mukti Sansad said that he agrees with both the demands of the farmers, that of remunerative crop prices and debt-free farming. “This is the time to rise above party politics and support the farmers in their fight for justice,” Digvijay Singh said.Harshvardhan Sahai, MLA from Maharashtra also offered his support to the cause of farmers.
Raju Shetty, farmers’ leader and Member of the Lok Sabha today raised the issue of farmers in Lok Sabha and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether his assurance of implementing the Swaminathan Commission was a false one. Raju Shetty later chose to walk out from the Lok Sabha as the Speaker muted his mike and did not allow him to complete his speech.“I do not want to stay in the House when it does not have time to listen to the sufferings of farmers who comprise of a majority of the population of the country,” Raju Shetty said.V M Singh, Convenor All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, while announcing the way forward for Kisan Mukti Sansad said, “We are not going to stop here, we are going to get together the farmers from every part of the country.” He also said that AIKSCC will take out four more Yatras in all parts of the country including states like Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar, culminating in Delhi on 2nd October. And if the government fails to accept our demands by then, we will launch an indefinite countrywide agitation.Speaking at the Kisan Mukti Sansad, Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav said, “This movement represents a tectonic shift in the history of farmers’ movements as it has unified farmer leaders from across the country cutting across party lines and ideologies. Although, the young generation of leaders of farmers’ movements may have been compelled to abandon farming but that has not made them forget the sufferings of the farmers
