MAHARASHTRA FARMERS WREST HISTORIC LOAN WAIVER THROUGH UNITED 10-DAY STRIKE STRUGGLE

It was a historic struggle. And it culminated in an equally historic victory. It has already had its impact all over Maharashtra. And it will have its impact in the country.

On June 11, 2017, the farmers of Maharashtra at last won the hard-fought battle for a loan waiver after a ten day unprecedented strike struggle that began on June 1, supported by a massive Maharashtra Bandh on June 5.

THE STRUGGLE

As a result of the novel united struggle that caught the imagination of the people of Maharashtra, the Co-ordination Committee of Farmers’ Organisations was invited by the state government for negotiations at the Sahyadri State Guest House in Mumbai on June 11. This itself was a climb-down for the government, which had claimed for a week that it would talk only to ‘real farmers and not to those who were using the farmers for their own ends’. Five factors influenced the government to change its stance.

First, the attempt by the Chief Minister on June 3 to abort the peasant strike by using some pliant and self-styled ‘peasant leaders’ was smashed by the decisive intervention of the AIKS. The AIKS immediately took the initiative to bring all farmers’ organisations together to fight this betrayal and to continue the strike.  

Second, on June 6 there occurred the horrendous police firing by the BJP state government on farmers who were agitating for the very same demands in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, killing five of them. This had severe repercussions throughout the country and it put the BJP, along with its central and state governments, on the defensive.  

Third, on June 8 a massive state convention of the Co-ordination Committee of Farmers’ Organisations of Maharashtra was held at Nashik. The unity of all peasant organisations and the militancy of thousands of farmers displayed at that convention, together with the vibrant success of the then week-long farmers’ strike, conveyed its own powerful message.

Fourth, this convention gave a clarion call for a statewide Rail Roko and Rasta Roko struggle slated for June 13 if the government still refused to relent. This unnerved the powers that be, who began seeing nightmares of a repeat of Mandsaur in several places in Maharashtra. The preparations for that decisive action had begun in full swing all over the state.

Fifth, special mention must be made that the print and electronic media as a whole, especially the Marathi media, prominently and consistently highlighted the peasant strike and its demands, the Maharashtra Bandh, the Nashik state convention and all the peasant actions that took place. Public opinion thus turned against the BJP government.      

As a result of all these factors, on June 9, the very next day after the Nashik convention, the state government announced the formation of a high-powered committee of six Cabinet ministers headed by Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, to hold negotiations with the Co-ordination Committee on June 11 and sent a letter inviting the Committee for talks.

To ensure unanimity within the 35-member Co-ordination Committee when talking to the government, a special Committee meeting was held at the office of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) on June 10. A charter of demands was prepared with the concurrence of all participants. A jam-packed media conference was held after the meeting.

It is significant to note that in the first meeting of peasant organisations that was held at Nashik on June 4, the young and dynamic general secretary of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Dr Ajit Nawale, who had walked out of the earlier negotiations with the Chief Minister on the night of June 3 and who had blown the lid off the betrayal of the strike, was unanimously elected Convenor of the Co-ordination Committee. He carried out all his responsibilities as Convenor with admirable courage and fortitude that was acknowledged by all. This, together with the fact that the AIKS has consistently and independently led militant mass struggles in recent years on burning peasant issues, has a state membership of well over two lakh and has functioning units in 23 districts – more than any other farmers’ organisation -  put the AIKS at the centre stage of this peasant struggle in Maharashtra.   

THE VICTORY     

On June 11, the entire 35-member Co-ordination Committee was present at the talks with the state government. Prominent among them were Raju Shetty, MP, Bachhu Kadu, MLA, Jayant Patil, MLC, Raghunathdada Patil, Dr Ashok Dhawale, Namdev Gavade and Convenor Dr Ajit Nawale. Also present were experts helping the Committee like Vishwas Utagi and Prof H M Desarda. The state government was represented by Cabinet ministers Chandrakant Patil, Pandurang Fundkar, Divakar Raote, Girish Mahajan, Subhash Deshmukh and several secretaries and other officials of the related departments.

With strenuous and protracted negotiations for over three hours, after the ministers present consulted the Chief Minister, the state government finally agreed as follows: 1. Complete loan waiver to the peasantry, subject to certain criteria to exclude the rich sections; 2. These criteria will be decided within one month by a 10-12 member committee, which will have half the members from the Co-ordination Committee and half from the government; 3. Implementation of loan waiver to all peasants holding less than five acres of land with immediate effect and new loans to be given to them immediately for the coming sowing season; 4. Substantial increase in the price of milk to be paid to the peasantry as per the formula that 70 per cent of the selling price of milk will go to the peasant and 30 per cent to the processing institute for its expenses; 5. The Chief Minister will take a delegation of farmers’ organisations to the prime minister to insist on the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of fixing the minimum support price (MSP) to cover the cost of production plus 50 percent profit; 6. The state government will give a written reply to all the other demands in the charter; 7. Police cases in this struggle will be immediately withdrawn.

After the leadership placed these decisions before the Committee for its approval, the group of ministers was requested to place the same decisions before the entire Co-ordination Committee for its acceptance. It was only after this democratic and transparent procedure was followed that a joint media meet was held and all the above decisions were reported. They were flashed with lead and banner headlines by all the media in Maharashtra.

The same evening, a wave of joy swept through the rural areas across the state. In thousands of towns and villages, people burst crackers and distributed sweets to celebrate the victory of this magnificent struggle.

Apart from the significance of the demands won, the characteristics of this peasant struggle were: it was led by young peasants all across the state; most peasant organisations and their leaders stood united in this struggle; peasant issues came to the forefront in discussion and decision making after a very long time; unity of the peasantry and the working class (CITU, AITUC and other trade unions held impressive joint solidarity actions in several cities), peasant organisations and intellectuals in the agrarian field began taking shape; and peasant struggles on these and other issues began to spread to other states across the country.

THE FUTURE     

The immediate issue is the finalisation of the exclusion criteria for the complete loan waiver. There is unanimity that the richer sections must be excluded from the benefits of any loan waiver. The actual quantum of the loan waiver will become known only when these criteria are finalised. But if these criteria are not satisfactorily settled before the state assembly begins its monsoon session on July 24, the Committee has warned in the joint media meet itself that the struggle will be revived with even greater unity and strength from July 26, which is the birth anniversary of the renowned social reformer Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

The loan waiver decision will certainly provide much-needed relief to the overwhelming majority of the peasantry. The Committee strongly insisted on two aspects and these were conceded by the government. One, there should not be a land limit because dry land farmers everywhere generally have more than five acres of land. This is especially the case in both Vidarbha and Marathwada, the cotton and soyabean-growing backward and largely unirrigated regions, which have the largest number of suicides of debt-ridden peasants. It is the peasants here that need loan waiver the most. Two, the loan waiver should not be limited only to peasants who have defaulted on their loans. In the largely irrigated regions of Western and Northern Maharashtra, lakhs of peasants with less than five acres of land who grow sugarcane, vegetables and fruits and who cannot pay off their loans, simply renew them each year in record books. They should not be left out of the loan waiver ambit.

With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s recent statement that the Centre will not help any state financially for peasant loan waivers, the Modi regime’s anti-peasant stance becomes crystal clear. No such statement was ever made when loan waivers and tax benefits of lakhs of crores of rupees were given to corporate houses by the same government.     

At the same time, a loan waiver by itself cannot be the panacea for all the ills afflicting agriculture and the peasantry. Implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation as regards remunerative prices will be the next key issue of struggle. That struggle cannot be limited to Maharashtra alone; if it has to be successful, it must be intensified all over the country. The Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan has already given a nationwide call on the issues of loan waiver, remunerative prices, the ban on the cattle trade and increased MNREGA allocation, for June 16.

Last but not the least, there is the vital question of land acquisition and land reforms, and the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for land rights to the Adivasis. All these are the key issues for intense nationwide peasant struggles in the future.      

Ashok Dhawale

HISTORIC VICTORY OF THE PEASANTRY OF MAHARASHTRA!

June 11, 2017 saw the historic victory of the peasantry of Maharashtra, after a 10 day novel and unprecedented strike, backed by a massive Maharashtra Bandh on June 5. Under pressure of the unity and struggle of the peasantry and the impending call for a militant state-wide Rail Roko and Rasta Roko struggle on June 13, the BJP-Shiv Sena state govt represented by the high-powered committee of five cabinet ministers today held talks with the Coordination Committee of Peasant Organisations in Mumbai.

After strenuous negotiations for over three hours, the govt agreed to the following demands:

1. Complete loan waiver to the peasantry, subject to certain criteria to exclude the rich sections. These criteria will be decided within one month by a 10 member committee comprising 5 representatives of the Kisan organisations and 5 of the state government.*

2. Implementation of loan waiver to all peasants holding less than 5 acres of land with immediate effect and new loans to be given to them immediately for the coming sowing season.

3. Substantial increase in the price of milk to be paid to the peasantry as per the formula that 70 per cent of the selling price of milk will go to the peasant and 30 per cent to the processing institute for its expenses.

4. CM will take a delegation of peasant organisations to the PM to insist on the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of fixing MSP to cover cost of production plus 50 per cent profit.

5. State govt will give written reply to other points in the memorandum.

6. Police cases in this struggle will be immediately withdrawn.

The peasant organisations were represented in the talks by Raju Shetty, MP, Bachhu Kadu, MLA, Jayant Patil, MLC, Raghunathdada Patil, Dr Ashok Dhawale (AIKS), Convenor of the committee Dr Ajit Nawale (AIKS), Namdev Gavade and others. The state government was represented by cabinet ministers Chandrakant Patil, Divakar Ravte, Pandurang Fundkar, Girish Mahajan and Subhash Deshmukh. If the criteria of the loan waiver are not satisfactorily decided before the state assembly session begins on July 24, it was declared that the Committee will re-launch the struggle from July 26, the birth anniversary of renowned social reformer Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

This victory has been hailed far and wide by the peasantry of Maharashtra and the media has also welcomed it profusely in lead headlines. The significant point is that the AIKS was widely acknowledged as the focal point of this remarkable struggle and it took the lead in uniting all other peasant organisations in the state to successfully overcome the vile attempt by the government and some other forces to break the peasant strike on June 3. 

Ashok Dhawale, Joint Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha

MAHARASHTRA BANDH ON JUNE 5 HAILS HISTORIC FARMERS’ STRIKE

Ashok Dhawale

June 5, 2017 was a red letter day in the history of Maharashtra. On that day, practically the whole of rural and semi-urban Maharashtra came to a halt as part of a Maharashtra Bandh to support the historic statewide farmers’ strike that began on June 1. The call had been given jointly by several peasant organisations, among whom the AIKS is playing a major role.

Hundreds of towns, mandis, roads, shops and government offices were closed down by lakhs of farmers who came on to the streets in solidarity with the demands of the strike. In several places, effigies of the BJP state government were burnt. There were police lathi charges in several places in which innumerable peasants were injured. One of them died while running to escape from the police repression. There were hundreds of arrests.

The strike and the Bandh reflected the long pent-up anger of the peasantry at always being given a raw deal by the powers that be. The rage against the government was palpable everywhere. Maharashtra had never seen such a novel phenomenon of peasant protest. The strike has entered its successful seventh day at the time of filing this report on June 7.

FUNDAMENTAL DEMANDS

The unprecedented peasant strike, with farmers refusing to get their produce like milk, vegetables and fruits to the market, has been intensifying with every passing day. The two cardinal demands of the strike are peasant loan waiver and implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) that was headed by Dr M S Swaminathan, particularly the one about setting the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops to cover the cost of production plus fifty percent profit.

Other demands include increase in the price of milk paid to the farmer; pension to peasants and agricultural workers above the age of 60 years; waiving of arrears of electricity bills; and increased irrigation facilities. Some other demands that have been raised are to stop the conspiracy of snatching farmers’ lands in the name of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Highway and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor; scrapping of the pro-corporate Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and providing comprehensive insurance security to all farmers.

The spontaneous response of the peasantry of Maharashtra to the strike was not without reason. Of the four lakh suicides of debt-ridden peasants that have taken place in India during the last 25 years of neo-liberal policies, Maharashtra has the dubious distinction of topping the list of states, with nearly 75,000 farmers having committed suicide. Vidarbha region has the largest number of peasant suicides, followed by the Marathwada region. 12,602 farmers committed suicide in India in the year 2015. Compared to 2014, this is a massive 42 percent increase. Maharashtra had 4,291 farmer suicides in 2015. The situation has aggravated markedly with the ascent of the BJP-led Modi regime three years ago.

OVERCOMING BETRAYAL

The peasant strike boiled over with anger on June 3 with the shameful act of its betrayal by two blacklegs who were masquerading as peasant leaders. It has now come to light that both these self-styled leaders – Jayaji Suryavanshi and Sandip Gidde – have old RSS connections. They met the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in a delegation in the wee hours of June 3. In spite of the CM not concretely conceding even a single demand of the fighting peasants after a three hour discussion, they unilaterally declared a withdrawal of the strike at dawn without consulting any of the peasant organisations who were actively supporting the strike. It became crystal clear that both the RSS-BJP state government and these blacklegs had connived to undermine this historic peasant struggle.

But to their utter misfortune, the general secretary of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Dr Ajit Nawale was also a part of the delegation that met the CM. He was the only one of the 17-member delegation who hotly argued that none of the vital demands of the strike like loan waiver and remunerative prices were agreed to by the CM and hence the strike must on no account be withdrawn. The CM, during the discussions, went to the extent of branding him as a ‘disruptive Communist’ and the two blacklegs declared that ‘he was not a member of the core committee, and hence need not be taken seriously.’

Dr Ajit Nawale then consulted AIKS national joint secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale on phone at 3.45 am on June 3. Both decided that he should walk out of the talks with the CM in protest and should immediately report the full details of the connived betrayal to the media that was waiting outside the CM’s bungalow. This was flashed all over the state by the electronic media and it led to a massive uproar amongst the peasantry all over the state against both the chief minister and these blacklegs. Both these AIKS leaders immediately contacted leaders of the other peasant organisations who were against this sellout and it was jointly decided by all of them to give the Maharashtra Bandh call for June 5.

On June 2, before all these events, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had addressed a jam-packed press meet in Mumbai where he fully supported the peasant strike. On June 3 again, Dr Ashok Dhawale, Dr Ajit Nawale, AIKS state president Kisan Gujar and state working president Arjun Adey addressed another jam-packed press meet in Mumbai organised by the AIKS. They thoroughly exposed this betrayal and called for intensification of the strike. Both these press meets were extensively covered by the print and electronic media.

On June 4, a meeting of peasant organisations was held at Nashik, where the old core committee that held discussions with the CM was declared as dissolved and a new 21-member coordination committee comprising leaders of various peasant organisations was formed to lead the strike. As per the call of this committee, on June 6, the day after the Maharashtra Bandh, tens of thousands of peasants closed down the tehsil offices in the state, putting padlocks on many of them. On June 7, the peasants will picket the houses of MLAs and MPs throughout Maharashtra. On June 8, a meeting followed by a peasant convention will be held in Nashik to decide the future course of this struggle.

The ongoing peasant struggle has already taken a toll of the unity of the ruling alliance in the state. Two major political parties, the Shiv Sena and the Swabhimani Party led by peasant leader Raju Shetty, a Lok Sabha MP, are openly supporting the peasant strike and are vehemently criticising the BJP and the chief minister. Sadabhau Khot of the Swabhimani Party, who is the minister of state for agriculture in the state government, was also involved in the talks in the CM’s house on June 3. He is also being roundly criticised and deep differences have developed between him and his leader Raju Shetty. Due to the inexorable sweep of the peasant strike, the Congress, NCP and others have declared support to it.

ROLE OF THE LEFT

All Left parties – CPI(M), CPI, PWP – have been actively supporting the peasant strike from the beginning. Trade unions like CITU and AITUC, organisations like AIAWU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI have also extended active support. The CITU has held demonstrations and marches in several places to support the peasant strike as part of its call for worker-peasant unity. AIKS units throughout Maharashtra are, of course, in the thick of the struggle.   

The consistent AIKS struggles in Maharashtra over the last one and a half years have, in fact, helped to popularise the issues and the demands of the present struggle. The massive one lakh strong AIKS sit-in satyagraha at Nashik in March 2016; the militant struggle on the issue of drought at the Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner’s office in the Marathwada region in May 2016; the impressive Coffin Rally to the Thane District Collector’s office to mark the AIKS state conference in June 2016; and the 50,000 strong siege of the tribal development minister’s house at Wada in Palghar district in October 2016, which yielded concrete gains for the Adivasi peasantry; and the ‘Aasood’ (Whipcord) State Convention followed by the ‘Aasood’ State Rally to the house of the state agriculture minister at Khamgaon in Buldana district of Vidarbha region last month on May 11, 2017 – it is this series of struggles led by the AIKS that have put the organisation for the first time in the mainstream of the current peasant struggle in Maharashtra. 

Historic Farmers’ Struggle in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra Bandh called today June 5 jointly by several peasant organisations, among whom the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is playing a leading role, to support the historic state-wide Peasant Strike, was a massive success almost all over the state. Big cities had been excluded. Hundreds of towns, mandis, roads, shops, government offices etc were closed down by lakhs of farmers who came on to the streets in solidarity with the burning demands of the strike.

The unprecedented Peasant Strike, which began on June 1, with farmers refusing to get their produce like milk, vegetables and fruits to the market, entered its fifth day today. It was further intensified with anger on June 3 due to the shameful act of its betrayal by two blacklegs who were masquerading as peasant leaders. It has now come to light, not surprisingly, that both these self-styled leaders - Jayaji Suryavanshi and Sandip Gidde- have old RSS connections. They met the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the early hours of June 3 and, in spite of the CM not concretely conceding a single demand of the fighting peasants, they unilaterally declared a withdrawal of the Strike at dawn. It was crystal clear that both the RSS-BJP state government and these blacklegs had connived to undermine this historic struggle of the farmers of Maharashtra. But to their utter misfortune, AIKS State General Secretary, Dr Ajit Nawale, was also a part of the delegation that met the CM. He strongly argued that none of the vital demands like loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation on remunerative prices, pension for peasants and agricultural workers etc were agreed to by the CM and hence the Strike should not be withdrawn. When both the CM and these blacklegs refused to listen to his pleas, he consulted AIKS national joint secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale on phone at 3.45 am on June 3, walked out of the talks in protest and immediately reported the connived betrayal to the media waiting outside the CM's bungalow. This was flashed all over the state and it led to a massive uproar amongst the peasantry against both the government and the blacklegs.

On June 2, before these events, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had addressed a packed press meet in Mumbai supporting the Peasant Strike. On June 3 again, Dr Ashok Dhawale, Dr Ajit Nawale, AIKS state president Kisan Gujar and state working president Arjun Adey addressed another packed press meet organised by the AIKS in Mumbai exposing this betrayal and calling for the intensification of the Peasant Strike. Both these press meets were extensively covered by both print and electronic media. AIKS leaders Ashok Dhawale and Ajit Nawale immediately contacted leaders of other peasant organisations who were against this sellout and it was jointly decided to give today's Maharashtra Bandh call.

The Peasant Strike will continue with strength and on June 8, a meeting of the new coordination committee that has been formed will meet at Nashik and will decide the future course of struggle. AIKS units throughout Maharashtra are in the thick of the ongoing struggle. All Left and other opposition parties, trade unions like CITU, AITUC and others, AIAWU, AIDWA, SFI and DYFI have been actively supporting the Peasant Strike. The CITU has held demonstrations in several cities as part of its call for worker-peasant unity.

Ashok Dhawale, Joint Secretary, AIKS