File Photo: Anna Hazare | Photo credit: PTI
Pune: The social activist Kisan Baburao Hazare, more popular like Anna Hazare, announced on Sunday that if the Union government does not comply with its demands regarding farmers, it will go on a hunger strike. The 83-year-old anti-corruption crusader also said it would be his “last protest.”
While speaking to the media in Ralegaon Siddhi village in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, Hazare said that he had been protesting for the growers for the past three years, but that the government has done nothing to resolve the matter.
“The government is only giving empty promises so I have no confidence left (in the government) … Let’s see, what action does the Center take on my demands. They’ve been looking for time for a month, so I’ve given Until the end of January. If my demands are not met, I will resume my hunger strike protest. This would be my last protest, “Hazare announced.
The implementation of the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan Committee and the autonomy of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices are part of Hazare’s demands.
Earlier this month, Hazare had written a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, warning of a hunger strike if his demands were not accepted.
In particular, the senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade had met with Hazare recently and gave him the details of the three agricultural laws introduced by the Center.
Hazare had observed a fast on December 8 in support of the Bharat Bandh called by farmers’ organizations seeking the repeal of agricultural laws.
Farmers have been protesting on the borders of Delhi for over a month against the Farmers’ Agricultural Price Assurance and Services (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of 2020, the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act of 2020 and the Essential Products (Amendment) Act 2020.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws are being billed by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will cut out middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, agitated farmers have expressed concern that the new laws will lead to the removal of the Minimum Livelihood Price safety cushion and end the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of large corporations. The Center has assured time and again that these mechanisms will be maintained.
