All India Kisan Sabha condemns arrest of farmer leaders, activists in Madhya Pradesh

'This authoritarian move is to try and scuttle the mobilisation for the February 16 Grameen Bharat Bandh and Industrial/Sectoral Strike called by the SKM and JPCTUs,' AIKS said in a statement.

New Delhi, February 12: The All India Kisan Sabha on Monday condemned the arrest of farmer leaders and activists in Madhya Pradesh, and called it an attempt to scuttle the February 16 Grameen Bharat Bandh and strike.

"The All India Kisan Sabha strongly condemns the indiscriminate arrest of leaders of the Kisan Sabha, All India Democratic Women’s Association, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, BKU (Tikait), NAPM and other constituents of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Madhya Pradesh by the cowardly BJP government," AIKS said in a statement.

"They have all been arrested under section 151 Criminal Procedure Code citing that it is to prevent the commission of cognisable offence. This authoritarian move is to try and scuttle the mobilisation for the February 16 Grameen Bharat Bandh and Industrial/Sectoral Strike called by the SKM and JPCTUs," they said.

The AIKS said its Madhya Pradesh state vice president Ramnarayan Kuraria was arrested at Seoni when he was in a preparatory meeting for the Grameen Bharat Bandh and strike.

"Police took him to Jabalpur and sent him to jail," it said.

All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) leader and advocate Anjana Kuraria was arrested from her home in Jabalpur when police came to enquire about the whereabouts of her husband Ramnarayan Kuraria and was also sent to jail. Balraj Singh, a tribal leader of the Madhya Pradesh Kisan Sabha, was arrested from his home at Sidhi and released later on a bond asking him to deposit a security amount the next day, the AIKS said.

Anil Sallam, another tribal leader of the Madhya Pradesh Kisan Sabha, was arrested in Seoni and released later. Ranjeet Singh, secretary of the Rewa district of the state kisan sabha, was arrested along with six leaders of different farmer organisations when they were in a meeting preparing for the bandh, it said.

The state president of BKU (Tikait) was arrested from his home in Rajgarh and sent to Bhopal jail. Kisan Sangharsh Samiti's Aradhana Bhargava, a prominent leader of the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, was arrested from her office in Chhindwara and sent to the Baitul jail.

Shatrughan Yadav of the SKM was arrested from his village in Gwalior, Rajkumar Sinha of NAPM was arrested from his house in Jabalpur. Anil Singh of the BKU was arrested in the Sheopur district and a few others were arrested in Jabalpur and Bhopal, they said.

"Many leaders are also restricted from travelling by confining them to their homes. Similar arrests and house arrests are being used in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan and a huge deployment of forces in these BJP-ruled states," they said.

"All India Kisan Sabha warns the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh, other states and at the Centre that these threats and arrests will not intimidate us; we will ensure a massive success of the Grameen Bharat Bandh and the strike by workers and farmers and give a fitting rebuff to such repressive actions," they said.