Communist Party of Australia expresses solidarity with agitating farmers
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, December 6
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) has expressed solidarity with the agitating farmers of India.
In a statement, the central committee of CPA said the party “stands with solidarity with the Indian farmers and workers who are demanding the withdrawal of the agricultural laws that will further deregulate the markets to the benefit of the monopolies”.
The CPA statement, posted on social media on Sunday morning by CPI(M) West Bengal unit general secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, said that reports of mass blockades at the entrance of Delhi indicated that more than three lakh farmers from the states of Punjab and Haryana used whatever means available to them to travel to Delhi and mobilisation in the National Capital.
The CPA said the agitators were met with police brutality as barbed wire and barricades were used to stop them. The statement lauded the farmers for their resolve to fight until their demands were met.
The CPA statement also mentioned that police had proposed to use stadiums as temporary prisons but the idea was turned down by the Delhi Government.
The CPA said capitalism had failed Indian farmers and workers in general to the benefit of the multinational corporations. Farming was one of the biggest employers in India with up to 40 per cent of workers dedicated to the production of food, the statement said.
“Indian farmers are loud and clear. The government of Modi Sarkar must listen to farmers. Parliament must withdraw the Agri Laws and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill”, the CPA statement said.
The CPA led by its president Vinnie Molina and general secretary Andrew Irving was the third international voice raised to back the ongoing farmers struggle near Delhi. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British MPs backed the agitation.