Thousands of workers, peasants and agriculture workers have reached the national Capital to participate in a Kisan-Mazdoor Sangharsh rally organised by the CPI(M)’s mass organisations, CITU, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agriculture Workers Union (AIAWU) on Wednesday. The rally is an effort by the Left, which has faced several electoral setbacks in recent times, to revive itself by raising the issues of its own support base.

About 10,000 farmers and workers have reached Delhi from Maharashtra alone. The State’s AIKS unit had held a long march to Mumbai from Nasik earlier this year, to demand a loan waiver and proper minimum support price for farmers.

Surekha Ben, a farmer from Nasik, said she wanted to raise her protest against the Narendra Modi government. “After the long march, the Devendra Fadnavis government told us that all our demands have been accepted and they will implement it. Yes, some of it have been accepted and they have started implementing it. But some are yet to be accepted, and some, they say, have been forwarded to the Centre. This means that we will have to continue with our struggles,” she added.

Aaba Pawar, another farmer from the Palghar region, said only a change in the policies of the governments will help them. “We do not get proper remuneration for what we do. We do not have any social security like PDS or health benefits,” said Pawar, an active worker of the Kisan Sabha. AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah said the producing class had been at the receiving end because of “neo-liberal” policies. “Workers, peasants and agriculture workers are the producers of this society. Others are consumers of what they produce. But these producers do not get any value for what they produce. The profit is being looted by a few corporate houses,” Mollah said.

AIAWU leader A Vijayaraghavan said the Centre had stopped extending benefits to the poor. “Acts such as Right to Food and the MGNREG Act remain on paper. This government has stopped implementing it. Agriculture workers suffered the most due to such steps,” he said.

CITU leader and former MP Tapan Sen said the struggles would continue and that the next course of action would be announced on Wednesday. “We expect not less than three lakh people in the rally. Apart from workers and peasants, teachers, employees of banks, insurance companies, PSUs and State and Central governments have extended support to the rally,” he said.

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