Kisan Garjana Rally- Bharatiya Kisan Sangh Organises Farmers’ Protest in Delhi
Farmers Protest at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi organised by Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Photo: Mohsina Malik)
Over 55,000 farmers from various states of India staged a protest at Ramlila Maidan of Delhi on Monday in a rally organised by Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The organisers say that the Kisan Garjana protest was held to put forth two key demands, abolition of GST on agricultural inputs and an increase for Kisan Samman Nidhi, a grant of INR 6,000 given to every farmer every year.
“We are facing problems due to the negligence of the government towards the farmers across the country. We have gathered here to demand our basic rights. The government should increase the price rates of the farming products according to the inflation and support us financially,” J Sampath Rao, President of the Telangana wing of Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Samiti, tells Media India Group.
“The government has to consider us as we feed the population of India. They have to introduce schemes for our welfare and it should not be Kisan Hatao Yojana (Get Rid of Farmers Scheme). If we stop cultivating, who will be responsible for damage to the country,” Rao asks.
“I have come here with my husband to ask the government what are we guilty of just because we are farmers? Why are all the schemes against us? Our income comes from farming and when we are not able to buy farming products due to the price hikes by the government, then how we will feed our family if there will be no money in our hands,” Gangotri Devi, an elderly farmer from Balrampur in Chhattisgarh tells Media India Group.
“What hope will we have when our voice is not heard and our demands are always ignored by the government? And what have they done to help us?” asks Devi.
“The schemes and planning of the government are anti-farmer. Our rally aims to open the eyes of the government. We will see if it happens with this peaceful rally else or we will have to call for wider protests in different states of India,” Mahipal Badru, a farmer from Bhiwani in Haryana says.
Some of the farmers gathered at the protest site also raised demands for the government creating a pension scheme for older farmers and setting of retirement ages for the agricultural sector as well.
