15000+ farmers joined their rally on foot and in their tractors. The rally reached Tarun Bharat Stadium wherein Raju Shetti and Arvind Kejriwal expressed their tribute to the families of the two farmers Shahid Kundalik Kokate and Shahid Chandrakant Nalwade who were killed during the protest for fair sugar cane pricing on 12th November 2012. 350 farmers were arrested including Raju Shetti who led the protest. Arvind Kejriwal said Aam Aadmi Party would solidly stand behind their cause and fair pricing for farmers was a burning issue across the nation.
Raju Shetti said that all farmers had come together and collected a fund for the families of the deceased from their hard earned income - the staggering amount of 17 lacs had been collected in less than a month. It was presented to the two families at this Sabha. The donors were all aam aadmi, including a young boy who made his living by conducting “poojas” and had donated his meagre earnings to the families of these two brave farmers. MLA Sadabhau Khot gave a fiery speech and said that now the farmers had come together and despite any amount of torture inflicted on them they would challenge the atrocities of the ruling elite at every instance.
The crowds surged to over 20000 and Arvind Kejriwal was met with a resounding welcome. Arvind paid tribute to the deceased farmers and said they were martyrs of the second fight for independence. He said it was was shocking that the government was not even willing to pay even the cost of production to farmers - the only reason was that most of the sugar mills were owned by politicians and they were looting the farmers. He pledged his full support to the Kisan Andolan and it was a burning national issue.
He said Raju Shetti was the only leader in the nation who had gone to jail for the sake of the farmers. The nation needed such leaders to now take on a national role and exhorted Raju Shetti to make this a nation wide andolan. He said it was time for all good forces to join hands and come together to fight for the “aam aadmi”.
He explained how corruption was the root cause of price rise and we have to come together to end corruption. He looked forward to great leaders and groups coming together from across the nation and bringing about this change.
