A Month After Mandsaur Firing, Commemoration Meetings Denied Permission by MP Government

Picture for Representation. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The one month anniversary of the Mandsar firing incident was supposed to herald a new turn in peasant politics, with at least two separate mass meetings to commemorate the farmers who lost their lives. It has instead run into the usual administrative hurdles. The government is determined to prevent the meetings while farmer leaders are adamant about having it.

The ‘Shaheed Kisan Smriti Mahapanchayat’ at Pipliya mandi has been denied permission by the district administration and police. Pipliya is the site of the firing, allegedly by the police.

The meeting was called by the kisan sangharsh samiti, an umbrella organization representing more than 100 farmers groups from across the nation, including Jai Kisan Andola, Swaraj Abhiyan’s peasant organization, Swabhiman Shetkari Sangathan, Raju Shetty’s outfit, and others.

“There were two separate meetings called for today which have both been denied permission,” Nayeem Khan, a resident of Kachrod village near Mandsaur told News18. “One was called by the farmers unions and the second by the Congress party,” he said.

The District Collector O.P. Srivastava was quoted by PTI saying that they wouldn’t allow farmers to hold a condolence meeting.

A day before the commemoration, the Madhya Pradesh government arrested Dr. Sunilam, a peasant leader and former MLA from the state and a member of the kisan sangharsh samiti. Peasant leaders who have gathered in Mandsaur from various parts of the country have vowed to press on with the meetings regardless of whether they receive police permission or not.

Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India termed the arrest of Dr Sunilam as an authoritarian move and was quoted by news agencies saying that the mahapanchayat will carry on regardless.

The mahapanchayat meeting was supposed to kick off at noon today and conclude with a public meeting in the evening in a village nearby. A kisan mukti morcha has been planned which will wind its way through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh before ending in Delhi on the July 18th, to coincide with the start of Parliament’s monsoon session.