A CPI(ML) delegation led by AIKSS leader Prem Singh Gahlawat visited Gharsana, where four farmers were killed in police firing during a dharna demanding water for irrigation in the Indira Gandhi Canal. They also visited the nearby Rawla and Anupgarh region for an investigation, to pay homage to those killed and express solidarity with the farmers’ movement.
The team found farmers and agricultural labourers on the verge of starvation due to insufficient supply of water in the canal. Yet the BJP State Government is unwilling to resolve the crisis and continues to adopt terror tactics to intimidate the poor peasants. Most of the farmers in Sriganganagar district were allotted lands in or since1971, and are totally dependent on the canal for irrigation. Vested political interests of ruling parties, both Congress and the BJP, are solely responsible for the pro-imperialist economic and agrarian policies which have starved farmers of water since 1998, and which aim to silence those who protest with bullets.
The CPI(ML) is demanding the arrest and dismissal of the officers responsible for the firing, release of all arrested activists and lifting of curfew from the area, and immediate supply of water for irrigation. q