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 The spirit of goodwill and camaraderie that prevailed had to be seen to be believed. Never before had these farmers gathered together like one force. After dinner it was all festive atmosphere at the andolan nagari. Till late at night under the starlit sky the singing of bhajans and songs accompanied by musical instruments would enthrall all farmers. There would be speeches every morning and evening. For that, a stage was created with a water tank placed on a trailer on which the speaker would stand. Often women leaders like Akkatai Kamble or Aayesha Diwan alias Chachi of the Bidi Workers Union would give fiery speeches. There were some Muslim speakers as well such as I. N. Beg of Akkol Yuvak Sangh. Nipani had a sizable Muslim population and many of them were associated with tobacco trade. Most of them were part of this agitation. Subhash Joshi who usually stayed away from the limelight and worked quietly backstage also gave a speech which was received with thunderous applause. Farmers knew the key role that person had played in that struggle. All such speeches kept up the morale of the agitators. Sharad Joshi himself used to speak every evening. Many town people would also come just to listen to him. He spoke in Marathi but even Kannada farmers who were in overwhelming majority would absorb every word. There was no language barrier. Usually someone also translated in Kannada the gist of what was said. Every morning and evening farmers would recite Kannada and Marathi bhajans. They all had the red round metal badge of Shetkari Sanghatana on their chest with lettering in Marathi. The so-called differences and disputes between people from Karnataka and Maharashtra were totally missing. In one of his speeches Sharad Joshi said, ‘If Gundu Rao is ready to give fair price to our farm produce, I am ready to let the entire state of Maharashtra to be incorporated in Karnataka and if Antulay is ready to give that fair price to farm produce, then I am equally ready to let Maharashtra take over entire Karnataka.’ This was quite a courageous statement 146

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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage