National capital under siege as farmers converge at Ramlila Maidan

National capital under siege as farmers converge at Ramlila Maidan
Traffic jam at National Highway 8 as a group of farmers march towards the Ramlila Maidan. PTI Photo
The National Capital almost lay under siege to agitating farmers from across the country, who marched from four different directions into the heart of the city at Ramlila Maidan. Tens of thousands of farmers, who arrived from Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan among others, waited at the outskirts all night on Wednesday and were led into the Capital from Bijwasan in the west, Nizamuddin in the south, Anand Vihar in the east and Majnu ka Tila in the north. As long columns of farmers bearing red and yellow flags marched along highways, residential colonies and commercial spaces, the reality of agrarian crisis seemed to overwhelm the Capital’s residents, who stood by the farmers distributing pamphlets and literature on their plight. Though traffic flow was severely affected in several parts of the city, the farmers on their part tried to keep to one side of the road and leave adequate way for passage of vehicles.

Columns of farmers waving yellow flags led by Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav from Bijwasan, gave out pamphlets apologising for the inconvenience caused to commuters and residents in the Capital. The farmers, however, drew the attention of the residents to the injustice meted out to them as they quoted the prices that they received for their produce as opposed to the prices customers had to pay. “While we get Rs. 5 per kg for tomatoes, you pay Rs. 30 a kg, we get Rs. 10 a kg for apples and you pay Rs. 110, we get Rs. 20 a litre for milk and you pay Rs. 42. This is our plight….Over the last 20 years over three lakh farmers have committed suicide,” the pamphlets read.

Over 200 farmer organisations aligned under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee converged at the Ramlila Maidan, the Capital’s protest hub.

Cultural programmes have been organised to keep the farmers motivated overnight as they gear up for the final lap of the protest march on Friday.


The AIKSCC on Thursday also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as representatives of all political parties to join the Kisan Mukti March on Friday to support the agitating farmers and take action on their demands. The farmers have demanded the passage of two Kisan Mukti Bills that were drafted following consultations across the country and have sought a special session of Parliament to discuss them.

“The first bill relates to one-time full loan waiver as a relief to debt-ridden farmers. The second bill is a long term institutional measure to ensure farmers are not pushed to indebtedness again. The demand is to guarantee remunerative price to farmers as per recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission that says to fix MSP at 50 percent above the comprehensive cost of production,” Yadav explained.