Leaders "ignoring" tribal, Dalit, other marginal farmers' cause in fight against land acquisition ordinance

Ashok Shrimali with Achyut Yagnik

A senior activist of Gujarat, Ashok Shrimali, has created a stir in a closed-door Gujarat farmer leaders' consultation in Ahmedabad at Khet Bhawan, next to Gandhi Ashram, saying that tribal, Dalit and other marginalised community farmers' plight was being "summarily ignored" by those seeking to fight against the "retrograde" land acquisition ordinance. Shrimali said, this is happening despite the fact that they know it is these farmers who will suffer the most because of the recent Government of India ordinance, which has done away with social impact assessment and consent clauses.
"This is more true of Gujarat than other states", the senior activist, who is with Setu Centre for Social Action and Knowledge, headed by well-known veteran activist-academic Achyut Yagnik, said. "See how farmers' organizations are taking up the marginalized communities' interests elsewhere. Only recently, in Sundargarh in Odisha, the tribal farmers held a strong agitation blockading Rourkela, which houses the steel plant, after the state government declared its intention to acquire their land for larger urban area."
Shrimali further said, "There are tribal farmers' organizations in Gujarat, who are actually leading a tough fight for their cause. One of them is Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha, led by Romel Sutariya, and another is Adivasi Ekta Parishad led by Ashok Chowdhury. Both are based in South Gujarat. But I don't see any of them here, though they are quite strong in their areas." He added, "Unfortunately, in Gujarat's farmers' fights, only well-to-do farmers' interests are being guarded."
While the senior activist's view was strongly supported by veteran economist Prof Rohit Shukla, called at the consultation as a resource person, it came against the backdrop of Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and ex-BJP MLA Kanubhai Kalsaria's proposal that farmers across India should celebrate Holi this time by “burning copies of the land acquisition ordinance”. The proposal was immediately accepted as an important step against the Government of India's latest "development" agenda. In all, 50-odd farmer leaders, activists and activists participated at the consultation.
Speaking at the consultation, giving a background of how the ordinance would affect the rural people, farmer leader Sagar Rabari pointing towards the "dangers ahead", saying, “Industrial corridors across India are being thrown open for land acquisition. In Gujarat, according to our calculation, more than 60 per cent of the area would be covered under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which would be declared open for land acquisition without people's consent and social impact assessment.”

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