THE Lakhimpur Kheri Shaheed Kalash Yatra in Maharashtra began with great enthusiasm on October 27, 2021 at Pune from Mahatma Jotirao Phule's historic house, which has long ago been declared as a national monument. Mahatma Phule (1827-1890) was a champion of the peasantry, an inveterate opponent of the caste system and of women’s oppression, and the author of seminal works like ‘Slavery’ and ‘The Whipcord of the Peasant’. His wife Savitribai Phule was the founder of the first girls’ school in India in 1848. 

It was a joint effort of all constituent organisations of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), the Trade Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) and the Struggle Committee of Peoples' Movements (JASS). Activists from several districts of the state had come for this programme. Women were present in large numbers. Two busloads of activists of the TUJAC from Mumbai, and of the CPI(M) from Solapur, had come. Several state and district leaders of AIKS, CITU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI were present in the Pune meeting.

The statue of Mahatma Phule was garlanded by AIKS president Ashok Dhawale and that of Savitribai Phule was garlanded by NAPM leader Medha Patkar. A large public meeting was then held at the Hamal Bhawan in the Pune APMC Market Yard. Arvind Jakka made the welcome speech, Ajit Abhyankar gave the introductory speech and Manav Kamble presided. Vilas Kirote gave the vote of thanks. The public meeting was addressed by leaders of the above platforms.

All the speakers came down heavily on the Modi and Yogi led BJP governments at the centre and in Uttar Pradesh for shielding the butcher of Lakhimpuri Kheri, the union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra, who has neither been dismissed nor arrested even a month after the horrifying massacre of farmers. They also spoke on the cardinal issues of the farmers’ struggle which will complete one year on November 26, 2021.

They highlighted the main demands of the Shaheed Kalash Yatra in Maharashtra – repeal of the farm laws and the labour codes, withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, enacting central legislation to guarantee MSP at C2+50 per cent, halving the astronomical prices of diesel, petrol and cooking gas, doubling the days of work and wages under MNREGA and its expansion to urban areas, adequate compensation and crop insurance benefits to lakhs of peasants in Maharashtra whose crops have been destroyed due to heavy unseasonal rains, and most important, an end to the privatisation of the public sector and the Modi regime’s drive of selling off the country to his crony corporates Ambani, Adani and others for a pittance. 

Each kisan organisation will in the next three weeks take the Shaheed Kalash Yatra to its own areas of influence. The AIKS has chalked out a daily programme from October 28 to November 17, covering around 25 districts. It has so far covered Satara, Kolhapur, Sangli and Solapur districts in Western Maharashtra, and Usmanabad, Latur, Beed and Aurangabad districts in Marathwada. In all these districts, good public meetings took place at several centres.

After a three-day Diwali break, the AIKS yatra will resume again on November 7 from Jalna and will cover Parbhani, Hingoli and Nanded districts in Marathwada, Yavatmal, Wardha, Nagpur, Amravati, Akola and Buldana districts in Vidarbha, Nandurbar, Dhule, Nashik and Ahmednagar districts in North Maharashtra and Thane and Palghar districts in Konkan.

In the meeting of main activists held the same day at Pune, two major decisions were taken.

On Saturday, November 27, the Shaheed Kalash Yatra will reach Mumbai and pay homage to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Chaitya Bhoomi Memorial to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, and the memorial to Martyr Babu Genu (a poor peasant from Pune who became a textile mill worker in Mumbai) who was crushed to death in 1930 by a British-driven truck in Mumbai when he opposed imported British cloth which the truck was carrying.

On Sunday, November 28, a massive Maharashtra-wide kisan-majdoor mahapanchayat will be held at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai. That day marks the death anniversary of Mahatma Phule and will also mark the completion of one year of this historic farmers' struggle. The Shaheed Kalash Yatra will then end at the renowned Hutatma Chowk in Mumbai, which commemorates 106 martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.