Fifty thousand farmers are expected to attend the rally scheduled on Sunday at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, farmers' leaders informed. The rally is scheduled ahead of a day on which the Winter Session of the Parliament begins, and farmers plan to bring ashes of those protesters who died at the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, to immerse them in the Arabian Sea, Hindustan Times reports.
News portal ANI was told that farmers have also planned a 'Kisaan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' where they will discuss their demands for all farm-related issues. This includes the demand for all crop minimum support price (MSP), implementation of the Swaminathan report, unemployment etc.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Maharashtra is also expected to join the rally to pay tributes to the lost lives of protested farmers. Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik had told a press conference earlier this week that they will support the rally, though no political person will share the stage.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, an SUV had rammed into a crowd taking eight lives, including four farmers who were among the protesters against the three contentious farm laws. The incident, that led to violence, had happened in the presence of the state deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The Union government had promised that the repeal of the laws would be tabled on the very first day of the Winter Session.
In the meantime, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) cancelled its November 29 march to parliament and informed that their future course of action would be decided in a meeting next month. The farmers' union had said earlier that they would rest their protests only after the three laws are officially repealed and demands are met.