All India Kisan Mahasabha and its Punjab affiliate Punjab Kisan Union organised a ‘Loan Waiver Convention’ in which thousands of peasants participated. Peasants came all Malwa region districts of Punjab including Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala, Sangrur, Faridkot to the convention which was held in Mansa.
The convention expressed deep concern over the escalating incidents of suicides of farmers due to anti-farmer policies of Akali Dal led NDA govt. of Punjab and demanded appropriate measures to stop farmers’ suicides. Thousands of farmers unanimously raised their voices in favour of immediate waiver of all loans, including governmental as well as those acquired from private usurers. They felt urgent need for amending legislations related to loans which are highly biased in favour of money lenders and resolved to struggle for the enactment of a new Loan Waiver Act that can protect crisis ridden peasants.
The Farmers’ Convention also passed resolutions demanding an Employment Guarantee Act for unemployed youth and for reversal of the neoliberal agrarian policy regime in order to make agriculture profitable. They also shared their concern regarding growing crop losses due to increasing number of stray abandoned cattle and asked from the Punjab administration to stop this menace.
The convention was addressed by the popular peasant leader of Punjab and National President of AIKM Ruldu Singh, AIKM Gen. Sec. and ex-MLA of Bihar Rajaram Singh, Vice President Prem Singh Gahalawat, Mazdoor Mukti Morcha leader Bhagwant Singh Samaon, AIPWA’s Jasbir Kaur and many others. The proceedings were conducted by Punjab Kisan Union’s Secretary Gurnam Singh. This convention was a culmination of an intensive campaign which was carried out in hundreds of villages. Many thousands of loan waiver applications were filled in by farmers of this region during this campaign. The filled in application forms were handed over to the state government through a Tehsildar sent by the authorities for this purpose. He took away a couple of very big cartons containing loan waiver applications and promised to hand them over to the state government.
Comrade Rajaram Singh, General Secretary of AIKM, said that the lives and livelihood of farmers have been further devastated after the Modi Govt. came to power which is quite evident by the increased number of suicides in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bundelkhand of UP. But the government is unwilling to take any pro-farmer measures. On the contrary the Modi government continues to pursue anti-peasant policies in order to satiate the unending corporate hunger for farmers’ profits as well as their lands. The Modi Government cannot succeed in deviating nation’s attention from deteriorating plight of farmers by its communal divisive politics. The irony is the government is waiving loans and taxes for corporate sector but not for farmers. Comrade Rajaram Singh strongly condemned the recent attacks on students in JNU and HCU and terming it as an attempt to strangle democracy. He said that united movements of farmers, workers and student-youth to counter the growing attacks on democracy are the need of the day.
