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Section 144 of CrPC was imposed on the National Highway at Tamando and Phulkanara, as thousands of farmers from Odisha march to the state capital Bhubaneswar under the banner of Navnirman Krishak Sangathan (NKS), a state-level farmers’ organisation, demanding price, prestige, and pension. They are also protesting against the fact that the farmers’ suicides are being attributed to factors liken drug abuse/alcohol addiction, marital issues, and family problems, instead of the real issues like crop failures and loan burdens. NKS has been demanding minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,000 per quintal of paddy, and monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for the youth, and Rs 1,500 for the elderly.
Taking cue from the farmers’ marches in Delhi and Maharashtra, NKS, led by Akshaya Kumar, had given a call to the farmers of Odisha to reach the capital on November 5. However, over the last one week, attempts have been allegedly made by the police to foil the march at district levels. On the morning of October 29, more than 500 members of NKS, who were on their way to Bhubaneswar to attend the ‘Jan Satyagraha Padayatra’, were taken into preventive custody by the police near Keonjhar railway station. Farmers from Kuakhia in Jajpur and Balugaon in Khurda district were also stopped, and detained by the police. Block-level leaders of the organisation were also arrested by the police.
Despite the alleged attempts made by the government to foil the movement, the farmers continued to march towards the capital. “They have stopped 20,000 farmers on one side, and 30,000 on the other,” said Akshaya Kumar, who has been spearheading the movement, while talking to Newsclick.
In spite of the arrests, the police have not been able to curb the protest. The farmers marched on in spite of the attempts made by the police to stop them. “They can detain some of us, but not everyone. We are too many. The police are acting on the basis of the orders from the government. The government doesn’t want the march to succeed,” alleged Kumar. He said that to stop the peaceful march by the farmers, the government has created an emergency-like situation, and it is a threat to democracy. He denounced the Naveen Patnaik government for trying to kill the voices of the farmers.
The promises made by the government to help the farmers with 35 per cent irrigation in all blocks, and constructing chains of cold storages have not been met. Several farmers from the state have been allegedly forced to commit suicide, burdened by loans and crop failures.
“If they won’t let the farmers come to Bhubaneshwar, we will protest in the villages. We won’t stop until our demands have been met. The government cannot stop us by using the police to arrest and detain us, or by imposing Section 144 on us,” Kumar told Newsclick.