Since December, farmers in Gujarat have made several attempts to join the huge protests at the borders of Delhi against three new agricultu...
Since December, farmers in Gujarat have made several attempts to join the huge protests at the borders of Delhi against three new agricultural laws.
Most of these efforts were stifled by the Gujarat authorities: the police would detain farm leaders before they could even leave the state, and only small groups managed to get to the protest sites outside the Capital.
Now, farmer groups in Gujarat are making a renewed effort to make their voices heard in the protests against the new laws, which they claim will open up India’s agricultural markets to corporate exploitation and undermine their livelihoods.
On Saturday, over 100 farmer leaders representing organisations across Gujarat announced the formation of the Kisan Sangharsh Manch or KASAM, a state-wide platform that aims to launch decentralised district- and block-level protest movements against the new laws.
KASAM was formed on March 20 at a private meeting of farm leaders that Scroll.in attended, in Surendranagar district’s Mera village. The group was largely composed of farmer organisations from North Gujarat, as well as representatives from South Gujarat and the region of Saurashtra, each of whom pledged to mobilise hundreds of farmers within their networks to join the agitation.
KASAM members announced that their first protest – tiled “Haiyya Holi” – will take place...
