Maharashtra: Farmers, tribals protest march reach Mumbai’s Azad Maidan to press govt for fulfilling demands

Nearly 30,000 farmers and tribals under the aegis of Lok Sangharsh Morcha on Thursday reached Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding farm loan waiver, land ownership etc. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across Maharashtra.

The other demands include compensation for drought, the transfer of forest rights to tribals, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, increase in the Minimum Support Price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation.

The farmers and tribals comprise mainly of North Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Ahmednagar and other parts of the state started the protest march from Kalyan on Wednesday and reached Dadar’s Azad Maidan today. The protesters also held demonstration near Vidhan Bhawan, where the state legislature session is underway.

More than 20000 farmers , tribals start their March from Azad Maidan in Mumbai .
This #FarmersProtest #WorkersStrike are the only way for uniting the oppostions for #StrikingUnitedly against Fadnavis Government pic.twitter.com/hmVhdvsyBp

— Pratik Patil (@Liberal_India1) November 22, 2018

Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, is among the marchers. Talking to the reporters, Lok Sangharsh Morcha general secretary Pratibha Shinde said, “We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands but the response has been lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation.” “We are taking maximum care to ensure that Mumbai citizens are not inconvenienced,” she added.

Thousands of farmers, tribals continue protest march to Mumbai’s Azad Maidan via @htTweets https://t.co/MIgRhHzDCF#Lok Sangharsh Morcha#Thousands of farmers#tribals continue protest march to Mumbai’s Azad Maidan#FarmersProtest #Farmers Pain pic.twitter.com/F3YaxoAqKo

— mir quadeer (@QuadeersultanM) November 22, 2018

It is to be noted that eight months before, a similar protest was started from Nashik. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180 km long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands.

Also Read: Maharashtra: Nearly 30,000 farmers, tribals set to start two-day massive protest march