A MEETING of the central office bearers of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) held on June 26 in New Delhi decided to support the idea of a long march of the dispossessed to Delhi to demand a special session of parliament called entirely to discuss the serious agrarian crisis in the country.

This unprecedented agrarian crisis is reflected in the lakhs of suicides of debt-ridden peasants; the thousands of deaths of children and women due to starvation and malnutrition; the abysmal state of rural education and public health; the massive increase in rural unemployment and landlessness; and the unheard-of rise in economic and social inequality in the country.

There is now not an iota of doubt that this grave situation has been aggravated by the neoliberal policies followed by the ruling classes during the last two and a half decades. The last four years have thoroughly exposed the Modi government as the most anti-farmer, anti-worker, pro-corporate and pro-imperialist government in independent India. Along with this is its rabidly communal, casteist and divisive character.

The AIKS appeals to the broadest sections of progressive, democratic and secular organisations and individuals in the country who are sensitive to the intense pain and hardships being faced by farmers, both men and women, and their children, to support this idea of a long march of the dispossessed, to participate in it in huge numbers and to help it in any way that they can.

The AIKS appeals to all sections of farmers, agricultural workers, the working class, the middle class, students, youth and socially oppressed sections like women, dalits, adivasis, minorities and others to support and join this long march of the dispossessed.

After a wider consultation with all concerned organisations and individuals, the date and programme of the march can be decided with the consensus of all.

In the meanwhile, the AIKS calls upon all its units throughout the country to make a massive success of the three campaigns and agitations that have already been decided:

1. The 10 crore countrywide signature campaign on the burning demands of the peasantry

2. The nationwide district-level jail bharo stir by lakhs of peasants and workers on August 9, Quit India Day

3. The massive five lakh-strong All India Mazdoor-Kisan Rally in Delhi on September 5