(Under AIPF National Struggles Campaign)
As per the decision of the national executive, the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha held padyatras from 6 April to 12 April in different States against the 2015 Land Ordinance. During this period village meetings were organized at 275 places attended by thousands of farmers who expressed outrage against the Modi government’s tyrannical bid to grab land without farmers’ consent. Many of the farmers said that this was the first time they were getting detailed information about the Land Ordinance.
In Bihar, marches, protests and meetings were held in several villages in Aurangabad, Vaishali, Bhojpur, Kaimur, Muzaffarpur and Beguserai districts. Padyatras and sampark meetings were also organized at 100 villages in 7 blocks of Jehanabad, Arwal, Jamui, Lakhiserai and Rohtas districts. During the meetings, protests and the marches, the farmers and leaders said that the ordinance would further jeopardize food security, and raised the issues of compensation to farmers for crop loss, permanent purchase centres for paddy and wheat, and Rs 2000 MSP for wheat.
In Odisha, a huge protest demonstration was held in Bhubhaneshwar by farmer organizations associated with CPI, CPM, CPI-ML (Liberation), CPI-ML (Red Star), CPI-ML (New Democracy), Chasi Muliya Sangh and others, in which thousands of farmers, dalits, adivasis, and jhuggi dwellers participated. Impressive protests were also held in Puri; a farmers’ convention was organized at Kalahandi. In Madhya Pradesh padyatras were held in Bhind, Chambal, as well as neighbouring Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. Impressive protests were held in Darjeeling, Bardhman, and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, and Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
In Punjab padyatras and gramin sabhas were organized in 117 villages in Mansa, Sangrur, Barnala, Bhatinda, Faridkot and Gurdaspur districts. A farmer’s convention was organized by the party in Anjana tehsil of Amritsar. Padyatras were also organized in East Godavari of Andhra Pradesh and Sonepat in Haryana. In Uttar Pradesh padyatras, marches and meetings were organized in Lucknow, Barelley, Azamgarh, Pilibhit, Jalaun, Ghazipur, Chandroli, Mirzapur, Sitapur, and Lakhimpur districts.
Leaders addressing the meetings and marches across the states, stressed on the pro-corporate, capitalist and anti-farmer character of the ordinance. They called upon the people to fight this open license to land loot and pointed out that AIPF provides a joint platform for a untied struggle against this draconian ordinance. A meeting of the national council of the Kisan Mahasabha will be held on 17-18 May in Bhagalpur, Bihar which will be attended by 100 farmer leaders from various States.
