Hundreds of farmers reached Patna on Tuesday and assembled near the Gandhi Maidan before they took out a mega march to the Bihar Raj Bhawan, calling for the central government's new farm laws to be revoked. The march started from Patna's famous Gandhi Maidan and the police blocked the protest at Dak Bunglow Chowk, using barricades and batons, resulting in a clash between the protesters and police.
The protesters were mainly led by members of various Left parties and unions.
Farmers under the umbrella of Kisan MahaSabha came out on streets to protest against three contentious farm laws passed in Parliament by the Narendra Modi government in September.
This is the first ever major agitation started by a non-political unit apart from some supporters of left parties in Bihar. Earlier, RJD, JAP and Congress parties have taken out marches in solidarity with the farmers.
"We are only demanding a roll back of the three farm laws passed in Parliament. The NDA government is trying to impose these legislation on farmers. We will not allow that to happen. We will not withdraw the agitation until the Centre rolls back these three laws," said one of the farmers Sudhakar Mahto, who came from Darbhanga last night.
"We are standing by the farmers agitating at the borders of Delhi. The Centre wants to grab lands through these farm laws to benefit corporates.
"We have no faith in the Centre's promises. The intention of the Modi government is not right. They want a monopoly in the agriculture sector as well after privatising the Indian Railways, Telecom sector, Aviation sector and other. We will not let that happen," Ramesh Yadav, a farmer from Nalanda district said.
"It is not a fight for the rights of farmers only but it is a fight for every poor person, salaried class, middle class, small traders and businessmen. If the NDA government is successful in this, we will face huge consequences in terms of price hike of every commodity and it will subsequently affect other sectors.
"For example, we are buying wheat at the rate of Rs 35 per kg, which will then be available at Rs 80 to 100 per kg and the price will be controlled by corporates," said Rahul Kumar, another protester of Sampatchak in Patna district.
Tens of thousands of farmers are camped near New Delhi for over a month demanding a repeal of the new laws which they fear will lead to corporate dominance in the farming industry and ultimately cutting down on their incomes.
The next round of talks between the farmer Unions and the Centre has been scheduled on December 30.