Pro-farmer groups join AAP’s land bill protest

Chennai: As part of their nation-wide stir against the NDA government’s land acquisition bill, the Aam Aadmi Party (Tamil Nadu) on Wednesday staged a protest at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai, which saw a confluence of pro-farmer groups.

Protests were held at 15 districts in the state, AAP members said. However, unlike the party’s stronghold, New Delhi, the turnout at the protest in Chennai, which ended by 12.30 pm, was limited to the party’s volunteers.

Speakers at the protest in Chennai included leaders from All Farmers Association of Tamil Nadu, Movement Against Destruction (MAD), National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) and Organisation for construction and migrant laborers apart from the AAP members.

The protesters brought along saplings and held them over their heads to symbolically denote that the farmers would have nowhere to cultivate if the proposed Bill became a law. Lashing out at the Modi government for being “pro-corporate”, the protesters dubbed the Bill as a means to cajole the likes of the Adanis and Ambanis.

“The government can usurp the lands of farmers in the name of ‘infrastructure development’ and for ‘Special Economic Zones’. This is just taking us a century back,” said P.R. Pandian of the Farmer’s Association, drawing parallels to the Land Acquisition Act of the British Raj in 1894.

The AAP members also chose the opportunity to hit out at both the Dravidian parties, especially the ruling AIADMK for supporting the Land Bill.

“Is this what the people of Tamil Nadu voted you for? Both the DMK and the AIADMK have been anti-poor,” said Mr S.A.N. Vaseegaran, a state committee member, adding that the party would intensify the stir in the future. “We are planning to do it in large-scale in association with local farmers of Thanjavur,” he said.