CPIML strongly condemns the brutal lathi charge on farmers in Unnao on 16 November 2019 and onwards. The Uttar Pradesh State Secretary of the party Sudhakar Yadav has said that the Yogi government wants to forcibly crush the farmers’ demand for adequate compensation for their lands. On the one hand farmers are driven to suicide by the agrarian crisis and the burden of loans; on the other hand the government is acquiring their land, their only means of livelihood, at throwaway prices and when the farmers demand compensation they are lathi-charged. The government gives billions of rupees as bail-out packages to big businessmen but cheats the farmers out of their land without proper compensation. Instead of understanding the farmers’ demands and talking with them they are made the victims of lathis and bullets. This is an entirely undemocratic and unacceptable measure. Not only farmers, but students and youth asking for education and employment and adivasis asking for their legitimate forest rights are also facing this kind of treatment. The CPIML demands that the cases slapped on the farmers of Unnao should be withdrawn, proper compensation and package should be given to the farmers or the acquired lands should be returned, and strict action should be taken against the officials and staff responsible for the lathi charge.
AIKM Team Visits Unnao: A team of All India Kisan Mahasabha visited Unnao to meet the aggrieved farmers and released a fact-finding report on 20 November in Lucknow. According to the report the land acquisition under Trans Ganga Project in Unnao was done by the government without fulfilling required statutes and rules, the amount of compensation given was too inadequate and the acquisition was done forcibly without the consent of farmers.
Farmers were not willing to part away with their lands and livelihoods at through away compensation rates. Moreover, the state government is now backtracking from its own promise of providing jobs to the affected families and to give a land piece on ‘developed’ area worth 16% of the acquisitioned land area. The market rates for the said land are around Rs. 50 lakh per bigha while the UP government had paid farmers at the rate of 5.51 lakh per bigha (and it falsely claims to have paid Rs. 12.51 lakh per bigha, said many farmers). The government before the land acquisition promised to give back 16% of developed land to farmers but later unilaterally declared to pay Rs. 7 lakhs in lieu of the 10% of the developed land and only 6% land will be given back. But even that 6% land was not given to farmers, and now government is including the amount of 7 lakhs given in the forcible and unilateral exchange for 10% of developed land as part of the original lands’ compensation money!
The Unnao peasants’ protest is reported in the media when they resisted heavy earth movers on their lands, but they were continuously sitting on the dharna at Shankar Sarai for the last two and a half years but sadly none of the ruling party politician or any administrative official paid any heed to their concerns. The Yogi government has out rightly ignored them while the role of the Unnao District Magistrate in this episode was highly biased and anti-farmer. There remains no doubt after visiting the spot that the DM was given a free hand by the Yogi government to brutally repress the peaceful farmers agitation. The state government actually wanted to teach a strong lesson to farmers and their families so that no one can raise fingers against the ongoing forcible land acquisitions in the state.
On 16 Nov, the police brutality crossed all limits when it beaten up Prof. Dr. VM Pal and made him to shout slogans in support of the police brutality, mercilessly beaten a 60 year old disabled farmer Sushil Trivedi, and destroyed more than 100 motor bikes by a JCB earth mover running over them. More than 40 farmers and their kin got grievous injuries while about 15 protesters have been sent to jail.
The farmers anyway are not going to relent to the pressure tactics and repression and one of them told the team in a very upbeat mood that we had formed this government with our votes and now we are going to teach them a befitting lesson too.
The team comprised of Rajiv Kushwaha, Afroz Alam, Ajay Kumar and Rana Pratap Singh. The AIKM has demanded to immediately release all the arrested farmers and their families. The AIKM has also demanded to immediately remove the DM of Unnao, to stop the repression and invite aggrieved farmers for talks to settle the legally mandated compensation for their acquisitioned lands.
