cheering crowd with his folded hands Joshi started his speech. In pin drop silence the farmers listened. Joshi said, ‘Critics often maintained that once the struggle was called off, it could not be restarted. With this huge turnout you have answered them!’ This was a jibe at those who somehow never wanted the struggle to be called off lest it lose momentum. Joshi however had always maintained that SS was not like a vehicle which once stalled could not restart readily and had to be pushed hard to gain momentum. He believed that his SS was more like an efficient car which could start or stop just by the turn of a key! For Joshi the safety and well-being of the farmers was of utmost value. He knew that when rains come, as they did in mid-November; a farmer has to be present in his farm to attend to his daily work lest his yearlong hard work get wasted. As a former civil servant, he also knew well that Government could crush any agitation with brutal force. It had the weapons and the machinery to do that. The worst-hit would be the ordinary farmers themselves. He did not want ordinary farmers to die so that he himself could become a “hero”. That was the reason he did not pursue a very hard non-conciliatory stand. He knew his was a long-term haul and he had to preserve the energy of his folks for many more years to come. Apart from the farmers from Nashik, Dhule, Pune and Ahmadnagar districts who were directly involved in the struggle even farmers from far off regions of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Karnataka attended that rally. It was the indication of the way the movement was rapidly spreading. Referring to that, Joshi ended his speech by saying, ‘In future it would not be possible for the government to send the agitating farmers from Nashik to jails in other districts because the jails of all districts in Maharashtra would be overflowing with farmers courting arrests! Our agitation has now spread beyond Nashik and has engulfed the entire State.’ 134
Q
Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
