Joshi was in Nasik jail. For two days in-between he had suspended the agitation to give farmers some time to organize their farm work, which was critical since unseasonal rains had just started. He did not want the farmers to lose their entire crop. But the Government showed no signs of slowing down its efforts to crush the SS. Government had deputed a tough and competent police officer Julio Rebeiro to handle the situation. In later years it was the same Rebeiro who was appointed in Punjab to tackle the Khalistani extremists. It was Rebeiro’s idea to let Joshi appeal personally to the farmers to suspend their stir. He called it ‘Goodwill Mission’. As a part of it, Joshi had traveled along the highway, escorted by police vehicles, requesting farmers to clear the traffic. But despite offering this cooperation, police brutalities continued. In protest, Joshi went on fast in the jail. ‘When my farmers are suffering so much at the hands of the police, I have to share their suffering,’ he said. He was even willing to die while fasting and had even expressed a wish that in that event he would like to donate his eyes. Seven days into the fast, his health had deteriorated considerably. He had lost four kilos of weight and his pulse had come down to 64. But he refused any medication. Meantime his custody kept being extended. The Court ordered that he should forcibly be given glucose through saline. That made the fast meaningless and hence on the ninth day Joshi gave it up. He was shifted from Nashik to Thane jail. Seeing the incredible support SS was getting from the ordinary farmers, politicians who were till then dead against offering farmers any increase in the sugarcane price, also began to say that the demand of Rs. 300 a ton was justifiable. They knew that the Central Government would eventually concede that demand and they did not want Joshi to get all the credit. They also realized that if they kept away from this mass struggle, their hold on people would decline and an outsider like Joshi would become all powerful. 130
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
