Page:Sharad Joshi - Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage.pdf/146

 In his autobiography Ghumare wrote (page 126-7), ‘Everyday, hundreds and thousands of farmers used to be arrested and taken to courts for remand. We, all advocates of Nashik, held an urgent meeting of the Bar Association and passed unanimous resolution, supporting farmers and decided to render all possible help in their court matters. I am very proud to say that lawyers took very active part in helping the farmers. The court staff was extremely helpful. Even the judges were extremely cooperative. Young lawyers enjoyed their legal work in various courts. There was a natural brotherhood among lawyers who had come from villages… As the space in court was not sufficient, I advised my lawyer friends to take the judges to the prisons and hold their courts there. Many judges did so. I myself had gone to the central prison and argued some bail matters before such judges. Mr. Jadhav was a police prosecutor at Nashik Road and he was arguing against the farmers as required by his duty. But his wife was serving food to villagers who were being taken out of jails, after their release on bail. She came from a village. She was so active that it was a surprise for me. This lady was never seen outside, while her husband was practicing as a lawyer and subsequently as a prosecutor. There was transformation in such ladies coming from the villages. According to my estimation some lakhs of farmers had participated in this rasta roko.’ All this was unprecedented. The support extended to the agitating farmers by Advocate Ghumare and his team is a matter of great glory in the history of social movements in India. A massive victory rally of the farmers was organized on 14 December 1980 at Pimpalgaon Baswant. Over one lakh farmers attended. Madhavrao More and Prahlad Karad Patil were the first two speakers. After them, Joshi rose and went to the podium. The atmosphere was charged with continuous clapping and the loud cheers of ‘Long live Sharad Joshi’. After acknowledging the Bitter Story of Sugarcane

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