modern equipment needed power and naturally the power consumption was fairly high. Power outages were very frequent. On top of that, in rural areas power supply was during the night. To work in the farm during the night was very risky. Fear of snakes and other animals was always on one’s mind. On the other hand, power supply to cities was during day time. It was convenient for factories and city-dwellers. Farmers used to feel bitter that the government which saw their convenience did not bother about farmers. For the earlier one and a half years farmers were demanding reduction in power tariffs. But Government never bothered to respond. On the contrary it suddenly announced a sharp increase in power tariffs. In protest, the farmers decided to gherao the Raj Bhavan of Punjab State in Chandigarh. They decided on Raj Bhavan because there was President’s Rule in Punjab between 10 October 1983 and 29 September 1985 due to political instability and Governor B. D. Pande was taking all the decisions. He was on tour the previous week but had reached Raj Bhavan by a special plane around 3 pm on the afternoon of 11 March, a day before the gherao was to start. He immediately called a meeting of the top officials to discuss the situation. As was decided earlier, the farmers from Maharashtra reached Punjab a couple of days before the stir was to start. Their families and friends had tried hard to discourage them from going because of the violence that prevailed. But about eleven hundred farmers still ventured out. For most of them this was the first journey outside Maharashtra. They were traveling by different trains at their own cost and were reaching Chandigarh in hordes. All were welcomed by Balbir Singh Rajewal, the only one from Punjab leaders who had known them. They included Bhaskarrao Borawake, Sheshrao Mohite, Ramchandrabapu Patil, Narendra Ahire, Bhausaheb Ingale, Badrinath Deokar, Chandrakant Wankhede and Vijay Jawandhiya. Some women workers were also with them. Special 204
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
