Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana calls bandh in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara in support of farmers

The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana has called a bandh in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts today, Friday, November 6. The organisation has appealed to people to make the bandh a complete success. Arrangements have also been made at various places.

The organisation says the fight for farmers' rightful dues should now receive large-scale support from the general public, and that it has taken the initiative with this aim. The bandh has been called against the state government, sugar mill owners and the administration. Farmers have been agitating against them for the past two months, and the organisation says the bandh will strengthen their fight.

For the past two months, farmers have been demanding that they get a fair price for their labour and that their produce be treated justly. According to the organisation, the farmer is not the representative of just one section but the mainstay of the entire society's food chain. Markets run, factories and businesses stand, and the ordinary person's hearth burns because of the farmer's labour.

The organisation also says the farmer's contribution is vital at every stage, from grain production to the market. If the same farmer has to repeatedly take to the streets for his rights, it is a matter of concern for the whole of society, it says.

The organisation is therefore of the view that the farmers' agitation should not be seen merely as the fight of one organisation. It is a question that touches the heart of society and needs to be seen that way. The main aim of the bandh is that the general public be seen standing behind the agitation.

The organisation has stated clearly that it has decided to intensify this fight for farmers' rights.