MP CM's effigy burnt in Kolkata

Activists of the CPI-ML-Liberation on Friday burnt an effigy of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in protest against the death of farmers in police firing in the state earlier this week.

The Communist Party of India- Marxist-Leninist-Liberation workers staged a demonstration outside the office of Madhya Pradesh Tourism in south Kolkata demanding Chouhan immediately resign taking responsibility for the death of the peasants who are demanding loan waivers and fair price for their produce in Mandsaur.

Holding aloft banners and posters reading "Shivraj Singh Chouhan Murdabad" and questioning the "Acche din" (good days) promised by the Narendra Modi-led BJP before they came to power at the centre, the slogan shouting protestors demanded the Prime Minister and the state governments find a solution to the farmers' plight.

Another Left party All India Forward Bloc condemned the Modi government for deciding to send central police forces to Madhya Pradesh to quell the famers' protests.

Expressing "grave concern" over the National Crime Records Bureau report that a farmer is committing suicide on an average every 41 minutes in India, AIFB General Secretary Debabrata Biswas said his party would back the farmers' protests in Madhya Pradesh.

"When the need of the hour was to announce a compensation package to resolve the agrarian crisis, the Modi government decided to send 1,000 para-military troopers to Madhya Pradesh. This only reveals that the present central government considers all opposition voices as enemises. They want to fight all protests by using bullets," he said.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh began a 10-day protest on June 1 to press for loan waivers and fair price for their produce. The protests turned violent on June 6 when five farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur. Another injured protester died on Friday.

--IANS

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