Other States - Rajasthan   

Farmers reach Pink City in thousands

Special Correspondent

Siege of the Capital begins; Not to go back till demands are met

JAIPUR: Distraught farmers, abandoned by the rain gods and burdened with the recent increase in power tariff, started an indefinite "padaav''(siege) here in the Rajasthan capital on Thursday. Thousands of them, travelling by tractors, buses and jeeps from about 12 districts, crowded the open areas between the Rajasthan Assembly building and the State Secretariat by afternoon in what appeared to be the beginning of a protracted struggle.

What added fuel to the ire of the farmers, mobilized in thousands to the Ambedkar Circle grounds of the Pink City by the All India Kisan Sabha, the farmers wing of the Communist Party of India(Marxist), was also the plight of their folks in the Phase I area of the Indira Gandhi Canal.

Apart from the demands of 12 hours power supply and withdrawal of the power hike effected by the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State, release of the 700 farmers who are in jail also figured in the speeches at the four-hour long meeting which marked the beginning of the siege.

In fact the first thing the meeting did was to observe two minutes' silence in the memory of the 15 "martyrs'' of the various farmers agitations in the State after the Government led by Vasundhara Raje came to power in Rajasthan. Duli Chand, general secretary of Kisan Sabha, Rajasthan, moved a resolution seeking the immediate release of farmers now in various jails.

Other than the leaders of the Kisan Sabha like its national general secretary, K.Varadarajan, joint secretary N.K.Shukla and State president Sheopath Singh, the CPI(M) leaders, Hannan Mohlla MP, central committee member Hariram Chouhan, State secretary, Vasudev and party MLA, Amra Ram, the Communist Party of India's national leader Atul Kuman `Anjaan' and Rajasthan Kisan Sabha leader Tara Singh Siddu also addressed the meeting.

The Left party leaders said the farmers in the country were under duress and it did not make much difference whether the Government at the Centre was of the BJP or the Congress. The urban-rural divide was growing and the agreements under World Trade Organization were stifling the farm sector, they said.

Mr.Mohlla said there would be an all-India protest on September 29 to highlight the issues of the farmers. The party would continue the struggle for the farmers even if its takes months or years to realize the demands. Amra Ram and Sheopath Singh, the prime movers of the farmers in the State on the power and water front, said the crowd would not go back unless the State Government announces a complete withdrawal of the hike.

Gehlot's demand

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot has sought immediate release of the farmers' leaders who are presently lodged in various jails. The State Government should give up its "stubbornness'' and start a dialogue with the farmers without delay, he said on Thursday.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party Government has kept farmers' leaders in jail for the past 42 days without ascribing any reason. This is unprecedented in the 55 years' history of the State,'' Mr.Gehlot alleged.

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Farmers reach Pink City in thousands

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