Kisan Struggle in Rajasthan being Intensified from Today Ashok Dhawale, Vijoo Krishnan and Gurcharan Singh Mour address thousands of peasants blocking highway outside Jaipur

The Rajasthan Kisan struggle led by the AIKS is being further intensified from today, February 23. Yesterday, after addressing the enthusiastic meeting of peasants who had reached Jaipur despite the draconian repression of the BJP state government, AIKS President Dr Ashok Dhawale, AIKS Joint Secretary Dr Vijoo Krishnan and AIKS Rajasthan Treasurer Gurcharan Singh Mour addressed two large meetings of thousands of farmers who had blocked the national highway outside Jaipur because they had been forcibly prevented by the police from entering the capital. The AIKS leaders then reached Sikar, which is the epicentre of the Rajasthan peasant struggle. Here over 25,000 farmers, including hundreds of peasant women, had militantly but peacefully blocked the entire Sikar-Jaipur national highway since morning. The anger of the peasantry with the BJP state regime due to the continued arrest of several AIKS leaders like Amra Ram, Pema Ram, Hetram Beniwal and others, and due to the betrayal of the September 13 agreement on loan waiver and other issues, was palpable. And so was their resolve to intensify the struggle. AIKS national and state leaders addressed the huge gathering at Sikar. It was decided and announced at Sikar that until all the arrested AIKS leaders and activists were set free, there would be statewide protest demonstrations today February 23 and a statewide Chakka Jaam (Road Blockade) tomorrow February 24 by the AIKS, supported by all other fraternal organisations. In the backdrop of the recent Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha by-election results in Rajasthan where the ruling BJP was trounced, this peasant struggle has put it even more on the defensive. AIKS leaders called for a concerted and sustained campaign to defeat the BJP in the coming assembly elections this November and to work with determination for the victory of the Left democratic forces, since that is the only way through which the peasants and all working people in Rajasthan can get justice.