At least 110 farming organisations under the umbrella of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh have given a call of ‘Gaon Bandh’ under which farmers won’t go to urban areas to sell farm produce such as vegetables, fruits and milk. The protest is appealed from June 1 to June 10 all over India.
“There are two streams in the farmer movement today,” said Shiv Kumar “Kakkaji” Sharma, a convenor of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, said. “One is nationalist and working only for the farmers. The other stream is political organisations that are looking to use farmers as a vote bank.”
Farmers are pressing for foreseeable demands that include loan waivers and high price for their produce along with the implementation of the recommendation of Swaminathan Commission on minimum support price. Apart from that, some farmers are making an unanticipated demand of lifting the ban on cow slaughter.
A major federation has decided to stay away from the 10-day strike. This is the All India Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, a federation of 193 organisations that includes Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj Abhiyan, the All India Kisan Mahasabha of the Communist Party of India and Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna.
“We have learnt about this bandh from the media and we had no other intimation of any kind,” said Yogendra Yadav, founder of Swaraj Abhiyan. “This is not our call to strike, but we extend our best wishes to any organisation working for farmers.”
Because of selective participation, the impact of bandh will be very limited in Maharashtra. The strike is likely to impact cities in north India, where multiple farmer groups have agreed to the call for a strike.
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