AIKS Maharashtra thanks political parties for strong support

The All India Kisan Sabha unit of Maharashtra thanked supporters for the warm welcome given to the Vehicle Jatha travelling from Nashik to Delhi since December 21, 2020. Around 1,000 peasants participated in the march with 50-60 vehicles.

“The Vehicle Jatha received unprecedented response and massive receptions from thousands of people in the cities of Chandwad, Malegaon, Dhule and Shirpur, and also in scores of villages along the route on December 22,” said a press release by the AIKS on December 23.

Malegaon that witnessed bomb blasts engineered by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pragya Singh Thakur and Prasad Purohit in 2006, and Dhule that witnessed communal riots by the RSS-BJP in 2008 and 2013 welcomed the Jatha with the strength of thousands of people. According to the press release, people from all religions, castes and classes expressed a spontaneous outburst of support for the ongoing nationwide farmers’ struggle similar to the enthusiasm of Bharat Bandh on December 8.

Everywhere along the Jatha route, there was tremendous anger against the Modi-Shah-led BJP central government and its alleged relation with the Ambani-Adani-led Indian and foreign corporate lobby.

“This nexus was the real source of the three farm Acts, the four Labour Codes and the Electricity Amendment Bill. People’s anger was further intensified by the complete callousness with which the BJP regime was dealing with the historic struggle of lakhs of farmers sitting for the last 28 days in the biting cold around Delhi,” said the AIKS.

The organisation also thanked all political parties for their full support for the Jatha. Barring the BJP, all political parties such as the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, the Indian National Congress (INC), the Samajwadi Party, the Communist Party of India and many others welcomed the AIKS Jatha at several places along with arrangements for food, water and stay. Several other social organisations and NGOs also extended support.

Many activists of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Nashik, led by Vice President Dr D. L. Karad accompanied the Jatha up to the Maharashtra border. CITU State Secretary from Dahanu Vinod Nikole and leading comrades like Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) State General Secretary Preethy Sekhar and Students Federation of India (SFI) State Vice President Kavita Vare accompanied the Jatha till the state border on Tuesday.

The AIKS Jatha entered Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday morning and was greeted by hundreds of activists of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and Narmada Bachao Andolan led by Medha Patkar. The procession will reach Kota, Rajasthan at night where it will be taken care of by the AIKS unit led by Duli Chand.