Third Martyrdom Anniversary of Comrade Satish Yadav Observed

ON 20 August 2015, Comrade Satish Yadav of Agiaon, Bhojpur, Bihar was shot dead at the hands of Ranveer Sena and BJP leader Rinku Singh, who was also the President of the Badgaon panchayat PACS, and his goons. He was killed because he had been a courageous anti-feudal fighter, leading movements against the Ranveer Sena in the 1990s and leading the struggles of poor farmers for irrigation and paddy crop procurement. He had also led struggles for increased wages of landless labourers and for schooling for rural children in the area. When he was jailed in the course of a struggle, he had mobilized prisoners to successfully struggle for the installation of a statue of Bhagat Singh in the jail!

When the paddy crop in Azeemabad was withering due to drought-like conditions, Comrade Satish led a 4-day road block agitation by farmers which resulted in water being released into the canal from Nonaur to Ajeemabad. The administration, under pressure, also sent their work proposal for implementing the Dedhua pump canal project, a long standing demand of the farmers. A historic struggle led by him in Agiao forced the administration to purchase 30,000 quintals of paddy from sharecroppers and small farmers. BJP leader Rinku Singh killed Comrade Satish because, as PACS president, he had been forced by farmers’ struggles to procure paddy. The murder of Comrade Satish exposes not only the feudal character but also the anti-farmer character of the BJP and Ranveer Sena, in spite of their postures and pretensions.

On 20 August 2018, comrades in Agiaon remembered Comrade Satish Yadav on the third anniversary of his martyrdom. Even today his killers enjoy the protection of the Nitish-Modi Government who still terrorise the poor in Badgaon village. Comrades vowed to achieve justice for Comrade Satish and to strengthen the struggles to which Comrade Satish had dedicated his life.