By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: The capital city of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is under unprecedented siege since early Monday morning giving jitters to the state government of Bharatiya Janata Party. The city stands virtually crippled as thousands of farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh an affiliate of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have descended on the city.
The city stands virtually crippled as thousands and thousands of farmers in about four thousand tractor-trolleys swooped into Bhopal in the wee hours of Monday morning to lay siege of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s official residence. They have also created road-blockades on main city squares in different parts of the city to register their protest against the non-fulfillment of their long pending demands.
The farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Madhya Pradesh unit, are up in arms and in a do-or-die mood while staging “dharna” (sit-in) on the road and an adjoining park half-a-kilometer away from the CM’s house. They are agitating for their various demands including 12-hour power supply to rural areas, adequate fertilizers, quality seeds, better return for their produce, water etc.
Terming their siege as “Operation 20/12” they have come prepared for a long drawn battle with fight to finish till their demands are met forthwith. They have come armed with provisions including rations and warm clothes for about a fortnight and would not yield till demands are accepted and not just assurances are given as in the last six to seventh months it has been. The farmers appear to be very much charged and determined to attain their mission.
Taking everybody, including the district administration and the police, by surprise thousands and thousands of aggrieved agitating farmers from all over Madhya Pradesh in their tractor trolleys marched into the city to hold a convention in Indira Priyadarshini Park near the CM’s house over the non-fulfillment of their various demands despite submission of memorandums several times. They foxed the district administration and turned their convention into “dharna” and “Chakka Jaam” (road blockades).
According to Kisan Sangh state president Shiv Kumar Sharma Chief Minister Chouhan has only dished out assurances about a dozen times each time the Sangh office-bearers met him with their demands. He calls himself to be the son of a farmer but by his conduct he has proved to be their worst enemy. “Kisan Ka Putr Kahlane Wala Kisan Ka Dushman Hai”, he remarked.
Among many slogans raised by the farmers at the site of the “dharna” the most vocal was “Jab Tak Dukhi Kisan Rahega, Zameen Par Toofan Rahega”.
As time progressed and more and more farmers in thousands trooped into the city the traffic movement went haywire normal life went topsy-turvy. Many schools had to declare holiday, examination in colleges were cancelled and government offices registered thin attendance.
It is irony that Bharatiya Kisan Sangh is said to be an affiliate of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (RSS), and it is has jolted a rightist BJP ruled government putting Chouhan in a tight corner and breathing down his neck. ([email protected])