On Monday, December 21, over 5,000 farmers from Maharashtra kickstarted a vehicle march from Nashik to Delhi at 3.00 pm, to join the farmers protesting at the borders of the national capital since the past three weeks.
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) flagged off the March with a public meeting in Nashik at 1.30 pm. The announcement was made by the AIKS at a press conference in Nashik on Friday, December 18.
Farmers from 20 districts of the state will gather at Nashik and travel 1,266 kilometres to Delhi, after joining the protests at the Rajasthan-Haryana border on December 24.
On November 26 and 27, farmers from Maharashtra had participated in the countrywide call for protests made by AIKS, by organising roadblocks and staging protests on highways. Farmers from 21 districts, including Thane, Palghar, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Sangli, Nanded, Wardha and Solapur, among others had participated in this protest.
However, to support the farmers protesting against the Centre’s new farms Bill, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) situated in Navi Mumbai’s Vashi area was also shut down, on December 8. Similarly, farmers from the state also participated in the Bharat Bandh on December 8 and held peaceful protests, including marches to government offices at the district and tehsil levels across the state.
The massive farmers’ protest was set off by the three farm laws pushed through Parliament by the government in September. These allow agribusinesses to trade with minimal regulation, permit traders to stockpile large quantities of food commodities for economies of scale and lay down new contract farming rules.