Protest marches, dharnas, and meetings were held on 25 May in front of DM’s offices in different district of Bihar in response to the call from Kisan Sabha (Kedar Bhavan), Kisan Sabha (Jamal Road), Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha, Akhil Baratiya Kisan Gramin va Khet Mazdoor Sabha, All India Risak Khet Mazdoor Sangathan, Bihar Prantiya Khetihar Mazdoor Union, All India Kisan Federation, Bihar Rajya Khet Mazdoor Union, Akhil Bharatiya Agragami Kisan Sabha, Pragatisheel Kisan Sangh, Akhil Bharatiya Janvadi Kisan Sabha, Pragatisheel Khet Mazdoor Union, All India Khet Mazdoor Kisan Sabha, and other Left farmers’ organizations. The demands of the protesting farmers included- (i) revoking of the Land Grab ordinance, (ii) speedy payment for all farmers including sharecroppers after paddy purchase, (iii) curbing corruption, (iv) speedy compensation for all farmers including sharecroppers for crop loss due to unseasonal rains and ending scams related to compensation, (v) Rs 10 lakh compensation to farmers who committed suicide due to anti-farmer policies of the Centre as well as State, (vi) waiving of bank/moneylenders’ loans, (vii) making farming a productive occupation, (viii) guarantee of wheat crop sale by opening purchase centres, (ix) modernizing all canals including Son canal, (x) 20 hours electricity for villages, among several other demands.
In Patna the protest march started from Gandhi Maidan. The protest march was followed by a meeting addressed by National President of Akhil Bharatiya Gramin va Khet Mazdoor Sabha Rameshwar Prasad, Patna district Kisan Mahasabha Secretary Umesh Singh, Kisan Sabha State joint Secretary Rajendra Patel, and other leaders. Com. Rameshwar Prasad pointed out that the large scale migration from rural areas was due to the wrong policies of the government. He said that rural workers are facing starvation due to the Modi government’s cuts in MNREGA. In the absence of the Collector, a memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Collector.
The protest in front of the Buxar Collectorate was led by Kisan Sabha State Vice President Alakh Narayan Chaudhury, while State Secretary Sudama Prasad led the protest in Ara. The protests in Rohtas district HQ at Sasaram were led by Kisan Mahasabha National Secretary Arun Singh, district Secretary Jawahar Singh, and other leaders from Left farmers’ and workers’ organizations.
The protests at Aurangabad, Kaimur, Jehanabad, and Jamui were led by peasant leaders Babban Singh, Ramadhar Singh, Manoj Pandey, and Shambhusharan Singh. Farmers associated with organizations of CPI, SUCI (Communist) and CPI (ML) participated in the dharna at Arwal, led by Ram Kumar Sinha and Rajeshwari Yadav. About 500 people participated in the protests at Nalanda, led by Munni Lal Yadav, Pal Bihari Lal, and other leaders. About 3000 people protested at Purnea led by Avinash Paswan and others. At Beguserai, a joint convention was organized in the town hall, led by Ramapati Yadav and Parwez Alam. Protests in Darbhanga were led by Sivan Yadav, Praveen Yadav and others. About 600 people participated in the protest march in Muzaffarpur with significant participation by SUCI (C), led by Jitendra Yadav, Parshram Pathak, Bindeshwari Sah and others.
About 600 farmers participated in the protests at Western Champaran, led by Virendra Gupta, Suni Rao and others. A big protest march was taken out in Hajipur, led by Visheshwar Prasad Yadav, while Jainath Yadav led the joint protests in Siwan. A huge dharna of 1500 people was held in Samastipur. The protest in Gopalganj was led by Kisan Mahasabha leader Lal Bahadur Singh and others.
This is the first time that small and big Left farmers and khet mazdoor organizations have come together on such a large scale to raise burning issues of farmers, sending a positive message to left forces and raising possibilities of future joint programmes by khet mazdoor organizations.
