Maharashtra Farmers’ Movement: Four Leaders You Need to Know About | NewsClick

The massive, seven-day march by the farmers of Maharashtra led by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) from Nashik to Mumbai has ended in victory, with the State government accepting the demands of the struggle. (Watch this space for updates.)

Notably, the movement attracted some attention from the mainstream media.

The usual custom followed by the corporate media in India when the working people hit the streets for their legitimate demands is to completely ignore it, like it did when two lakh workers from all over India gathered at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi for three days in November 2017. If it doesn’t manage to do that, the other option is to denigrate the protests, claiming that they are causing traffic jams!

The Kisan Long March, for a change, is being covered by many mass media outlets, possibly because the pictures and videos of the march are being shared too widely on the social media to be ignored.

But going by many corporate media reports, it would seem that the Kisan Long March is some sort of leaderless protest where peasants for some strange reason happen to be carrying Red Flags!

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Kisan Long March is no accident; it is the result of painstaking efforts by the All India Kisan Sabha, which has worked among the farmers in India to inspire them to rise up against the policies which are sowing misery in their lives rather than to commit suicide. The Kisan Sabha is the peasant organisation linked to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – the CPI(M).

Four lakh farmers have taken their lives in the years since 1995, and the Kisan Sabha’s slogan “No to suicide, Unite to fight” has been increasingly resonating among the farmers.

The Kisan Long March in Maharashtra is the latest agitation led by the Kisan Sabha, after the huge peasant protests it led in Rajasthan in September 2017 as well as in February 2018, and the earlier protests in Maharashtra itself which began in 2016.

So, let us get to know some of the leaders of the AIKS in Maharashtra who are spearheading this agitation which is even winning the support of middle class Mumbaikars, who have been distributing food and water to the farmers, and even showering flowers on them.

Source: Maharashtra Farmers’ Movement: Four Leaders You Need to Know About | NewsClick