ON January 19, 2016, over one lakh workers, peasants and agricultural labourers courted arrest at 73 district and tehsil centres in 28 districts of Maharashtra, in response to the joint call given by the CITU, AIKS and AIAWU at a state-level convention at Parbhani on October 31, 2015 (See report in People’s Democracy/Loklahar, November 16-22, 2015).

As per information gathered from all the districts, a total of 1,33,127 working people participated in the state-wide action on January 19. Of these, over one lakh courted arrest. These actions were prominently covered by the media in most of the districts.

The total state-wide participation in the jail bharo stir of AIKS was 92,272, CITU was 38,080 and AIAWU was 2,775. Leaders of all three class organisations led the jail bharo struggle in the 73 centres. CITU state president Narasayya Adam, state vice president Mahendra Singh, state general secretary Dr D L Karad; AIAWU state president Nathu Salve, state vice president Kumar Shiralkar, state general secretary Baliram Bhumbe; AIKS state president Dada Raipure, former state president J P Gavit, state general secretary Kisan Gujar and AIKS national joint secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale led the actions in various centres. 

The impressive actions of road blockade or picketing government offices were full of resolve and enthusiasm and were replete with thousands of red flags and resounding slogans.

At several centres, the participants strongly insisted that all of them be arrested and put in jail. But the administration and police refused to oblige, saying that there was no place for such a large number of people in all the jails in Maharashtra. Here the people insisted that all their names be recorded by the police as having been arrested. This process went on till late evening or even till night in some centres. In many centres the agitators were packed in police vans, taken to the police station and were released in the evening. But here also the police vans fell woefully insufficient to arrest all. In several centres, the authorities were forced to accede to the local demands as a result of mass pressure.

The seven districts with the largest total participation were as follows: Nashik (43,900), Thane-Palghar (31,250), Solapur (16,000), Kolhapur (13,125), Parbhani (8,300), Nanded (5,390) and Chandrapur (2,000).

The seven districts with the largest AIKS participation were as follows (AIKS mobilisation figures): Nashik (43,150), Thane-Palghar (30,200), Parbhani (8,300), Nanded (4,570), Ahmednagar (720), Wardha (600) and Nagpur (600).

The seven districts with the largest CITU participation were as follows (CITU mobilisation figures): Solapur (15,600), Kolhapur (12,250), Chandrapur (2,000), Mumbai (1,200), Nagpur (1,060), Thane-Palghar (1,050) and Jalgaon (1,040).  

The seven districts with the largest AIAWU participation were as follows (AIAWU mobilisation figures): Kolhapur (700), Nanded (600), Nandurbar (450), Jalna (350), Wardha (250), Yavatmal (150), and Beed (110).

The participation figures for each district and for each class organisation were an accurate reflection of their strengths and weaknesses and these need an in-depth review.

Parbhani district in Marathwada region on September 3, 2015, had seen militant demonstrations led by the AIKS on the issue of drought during the chief minister’s visit (see the earlier report referred to above). Here the police arrested AIKS state council member Vilas Babar on January 18, a day before the jail bharo, and kept him in detention in a bid to avert the action the next day. But over 3,000 peasants nevertheless came to the designated centre in Parbhani tehsil and foiled the police plans. The action was then led by AIKS state joint secretary Uddhav Poul and AIKS leader and panchayat samiti member Anjali Babar.

A week before the jail bharo call, on January 11 all class and mass fronts in Jalna district – CITU, AIKS, AIAWU, AIDWA, SFI, DYFI – held demonstrations during the visit of the chief minister, gave slogans during his public meeting and showed black flags. They were protesting against the callous inaction of the BJP-Shiv Sena regime in dealing with the grim issue of drought in Marathwada region and its refusal to consider the demands of peasants and workers. Of the 150 activists who took part, 50 were arrested. The action was led by Anna Sawant, Madhukar Mokale, Maroti Khandare, Sarita Sharma, Govind Ardad, Lata Kaldate, Kanta Mitkari, Manjushree Kabade, Anil Misal, Shivaji Togarwar and Anil Gaikwad.

As preparation for this stir, the AIKS had organised three regional conventions. For the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, conventions for peasant loan-waiver, remunerative prices and drought relief were organised at Selu in Parbhani district on January 7, and at Malkapur in Buldana district on January 8. For the Western Maharashtra region, a convention demanding the vesting of temple lands in the names of the cultivating peasants was held at Satara in Satara district on January 12, which also happens to be the 71st foundation day of the AIKS in Maharashtra. The conventions were addressed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, Kisan Gujar, Dada Raipure, Dr Ajit Nawale, other AIKS state office-bearers and Shetkari Sanghatana leader Vijay Jawandhia.

All three class organisations had jointly published 25,000 copies of a booklet comprising the resolution, charter of demands and report of the Parbhani convention, and 12,000 attractive posters for the jail bharo struggle. All districts together had published a few lakh leaflets. Several public meetings were held and a door-to-door campaign was conducted.

The ten main demands around which the jail bharo struggle was conducted were: roll back price rise and implement the National Food Security Act; provide water, fodder, work and crop compensation in the drought-hit areas; reverse the anti-worker changes in labour laws and strictly implement the existing labour laws; waive the loans and electricity bills of the peasantry; ensure remunerative prices based on cost of production plus 50 percent to all crops; start MNREGA works in all villages with a minimum wage of Rs 300 per day; ensure minimum wage of Rs 15,000 per month to all unorganised and contract workers plus dearness allowance; vest all forest lands, temple lands and pasture lands in the names of the cultivating peasants and distribute government lands and surplus lands to landless agricultural workers; give all scheme workers the status of permanent government employees; start a welfare council for agricultural workers and enact a comprehensive social security act; give pension of Rs 3,000 per month to all working people above 55 years.

All these jail bharo actions in Maharashtra severely castigated the neo-liberal, communal, casteist and corrupt policies of the BJP-led regimes at the centre and in the state.