Anna Hazare To Launch ‘Last Protest’ For Farmers.

Last protest for farmers to be launched signals Anna Hazare.

Anna Hazare who is a social activist threatened to go on a hunger strike if the Union Government does not meet his demands concerning the farmers by the end of January next year and added that this would also be his ‘last protest.’ On Sunday Hazare spoke to the media in his village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra and said that he had been holding the protest for the agriculturists for the past 3 years but the government had done nothing in order to determine the issue. The 83 year old further added “The government is giving empty promises due to which I do not have any trust left (in the government)…Let’s see what action the Center takes on my demands. They have sought time for a month, so I have given time till January end. If my demands are not met I will resume my hunger strike protest. This would be my last protest.

On a letter written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar by Hazare on December 14 he had clearly warned to go on a hunger strike if his demands of implementation of the recommendations of MS Swaminathan Committee and the granting of autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) are not met by the government. However, Hazare in support of the Bharat Bandh on December 8 called by the farm organization in order to repeal the three new farm laws observed a fast. The former Maharashtra Assembly Speaker and a senior leader of the BJP Haribabu Bagade met Hazare recently in order to explain to him the details of the three new farm laws introduced by the union.

The government showcased three new farm laws introduced in September as a major reform in the agricultural sector will remove the middlemen and enable the farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country. The farmers have now been protesting at the Delhi borders for over a month as they fear that the new laws will eliminate the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system received directly by the government and will also remove the APMC or mandi systems leaving the farmers in the mercy of the corporate firms. The central government has asserted repeatedly that the old mechanisms will remain intact with the introduction of the new laws. The farmers have demanded a complete roll back of the new farm laws to the government.