Maharashtra farmers’ march: Onir, Riteish Deshmukh and other Bollywood celebs extend support

Filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Shirish Kunder, Nandita Das and actors R Madhavan and Riteish Deshmukh have extended their support to the thousands of farmers who have reached Mumbai to press for their demands and meet the Maharashtra chief minister.

bollywood Updated: Mar 12, 2018 14:45 IST
Farmers participate in a long march organised by All Indian Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Monday.
Farmers participate in a long march organised by All Indian Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Monday. (PTI)

Filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Shirish Kunder, Nandita Das and actors R Madhavan and Riteish Deshmukh have extended their support to the thousands of farmers who have reached Mumbai to press for their demands and meet the Maharashtra chief minister.

Over 35,000 farmers from across Maharashtra, who embarked on a ‘Long March’ from Nashik on March 6 to press their various demands, arrived at Azad Maidan early on Monday. The farmers are pressing for an unconditional loan waiver, and transfer of forest land to tribal farmers who have been tilling it for years.

Maharashtra farmers’ march Live updates

While Anurag Kashyap retweeted several posts supporting the farmers, others posted tweets to express their support and respect for them.

R Madhavan extended his support to the farmers and tweeted, “totally and whole heartedly support this for all farmers in this Nation. ....LETS MAKE THAT DIFFERENCE ..Walking 180 km, 35,000 Farmers Reach Mumbai For Debt Waiver, Fair Pay.”

Riteish Deshmukh tweeted, “50,000 farmers walked 180kms, asking for the rightful compensation for their crop. On their last stretch they walked all night making sure they didn’t disturb the SSC board examinations. #Compassion #respect #Salute #JaiKisan.”

Nandita Das wrote, ““Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” #MartinLutherKing.”

Filmmaker Shirish Kunder wrote, “As long as the farmers and soldiers are willing to die for us, RESPECT The moment they protest against any injustice, POLITICAL AGENDA, We love docile cows!”

Producer Atul Kasbekar paid his respects to the farmers and tweeted, “Massive respect! Farmers in the mammoth agitation agreed to walk across the city at night so as to not inconvenience citizens esp kids appearing for exams. Here’s a sea of humanity passing my bldg at 3:30am Lesson for politicians who visit Mumbai n create havoc.”

The group of peasants -- men, women, youth and even seniors -- abandoned their night’s rest, to march from the Somaiya Grounds, Vidyavihar, starting 2 a.m. (Monday) to reach the historic Azad Maidan at dawn, to avoid inconveniencing students appearing for the ongoing board examinations.

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