The Uttar Pradesh State unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha sat on a hunger strike at the Lakshman Mela Maidan in Lucknow on 4-5 May with a 13 point charter of demands including passing a law for protection of sharecroppers’ rights and including them in compensation for loss of crops through unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Farmers from various districts sat on the hunger strike after a march from Charbagh station, under the leadership of comrades Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha and Jaiprakash Narayan.
Addressing the dharna, Com. Kushwaha said that in a State where farmers were desperate and committing suicide, the plight of sharecroppers was the worst. He pointed out that sharecroppers had to bear the brunt of a double disaster; they had paid 10-20,000 per acre, and now their crops were also destroyed. He exhorted the sharecroppers not to commit suicide but to fight for their rights of compensation and relief. He said that the rich were taking the benefit of the compensation money as the land is in their names. He demanded compensation for the sharecroppers and also waiver of loans for poor farmers and sharecroppers.
CPI(ML) CC member Krishna Adhikari said that while farmers were committing suicide in distress, the Akhilesh government was snatching land from them in the name of the Project Tiger. She demanded immediate scrapping of Project Tiger. The meeting was also addressed by Comrades Ramdarash, Allauddin Shastri, Kamlesh Rai, Rajesh Verma, Rama Gairola, Rajiv Kushwaha, Ram Singh, and Ramesh Singh Sengar.
A 13 point memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister which included the following chief demands: immediate steps to correct the heavy irregularities in the survey and loot of compensation money; 25 lakh compensation for families of suicide and shock deaths; free diesel, seeds and fertilizers to the affected farmers; minimum monthly pension of 5,000 to farmers above 60 years; MNREGA to be associated with agricultural work; immediate payment of arrears to sugar cane farmers; immediate stopping of oppression of farmers affected by the Kanhar project in Sonbhadra district; and re-issue of the notification on the project.