Farmers' Protest: Over 50,000 farmers stage 'Rasta Roko' in Maharashtra

They included a large number of women and youth led by AIDWA and DYFI. These were the largest mass actions in Maharashtra ever since the lockdown began six months ago.

There were massive 'Rasta Roko' protests in Palghar, Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar districts, in which a total of over 30,000 peasants participated in strength, AIKS Dr Ashok Dhawale said in an official statement released at Thane.

Over 10,000 peasants blocked the Mumbai-Baroda-Jaipur-Delhi national highway at two places in Palghar district - Charoti in Dahanu tehsil and Boisar Naka in Palghar tehsil.

In Nashik, Ahmednagar, Palghar, Thane and many other districts, major state highways were blocked in several places, the release added.

Other districts where effective actions took place were Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune in Western Maharashtra region; Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal and Buldana in Vidarbha region; Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna, Beed, Aurangabad and Usmanabad in Marathwada region; and Nandurbar in North Maharashtra region. Solidarity actions by CITU and DYFI were held in parts of Mumbai.

At a few places, workers of the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena also joined the protests.

These mass actions were led in various places by AIKS national president Dr Ashok Dhawale, former state president J P Gavit, ex-MLA, CITU state secretary Vinod Nikole, MLA, AIKS state president Kisan Gujar, AIKS state general secretary Dr Ajit Nawale, AIKS state office bearers Arjun Ade, Umesh Deshmukh, Barkya Mangat, Ratan Budhar, Radka Kalangda, Sunil Malusare, Uday Narkar, Sidhappa Kalshetty, Shankar Sidam, Uddhav Poul, Manik Avaghade, Yashwant Zade and also by CITU, AIAWU, AIDWA, DYFI and SFI leaders in many places.