JALLA Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (affiliated to All India Kisan Mahasabha) organized a one-day conference on 27 January at Patna City Ward No. 28 Chanpura village. The conference was inaugurated by leader of the CPI(ML) Legislative Party Com. Mahboob Alam. Kisan Mahasabha Bihar unit President Vishveshwar Prasad Yadav and State Secretary Ramadhar Singh were the chief guest and observer respectively. The conference began with a minute’s silence in honour of late Jalla kisan leaders Ramanand Singh Mahto, Ramswarup Singh Yadav and Suraj Prasad. Chandrabhushan Sharma sang a song in their memory.
Inaugurating the conference, Mahboob Alam said that the Modi-Nitish governments are anti-farmer and need to be thrown out in the coming Lok Sabha elections. All India Pasi Samaj Bihar President Surendra Chaudhary termed the attack on the centuries’ old hereditary profession of the Pasis and arresting and jailing them for tapping as ‘anti-dalit’ acts and submitted a memorandum to Mahboob Alam. Vishveshwar Prasad Yadav said that the failure of the Nitish government to open paddy purchase centres in Bihar shows the anti-farmer character of the Bihar government. He exposed the hypocrisy of the government’s promise to pay farmers 1 ½ times the input costs and said that in reality cauliflower and cabbage farmers are being forced to sell at Rs 1 per kilo. Rajendra Patel termed the water stagnation in the Jalla area as ‘the curse of Bihar’ and pointed out that the Bihar government is not clearing the water stagnation despite orders from the Bihar High Court. Rajaram threw light on the history of Jalla farmers’ struggles and called upon them to continue their determined fight to resolve their problems.
Shambhunath Mehta presented an account of the Jalla farmers’ struggles since the 2014 Jalla Kisan conference. He then proposed the formation of a 33-member Kisan Parishad and a 15-member Executive which was approved by the House. The election was conducted under the supervision of observer Ramadhar Singh. Manohar Lal was re-elected President and Shambhunath Mehta as Secretary. Comrade Ramadhar Singh said that the Jalla farmer is the poorest farmer in the Capital area and appealed to the farmers to participate in large numbers in the Mahadharna to be organized in front of the Bihar Assembly on 18 February 2019.
