A young man from Odisha has been at the forefront of the farmers’ movement at the Ghazipur protest site. Sachin Mahapatra was invited to address the crowd at Ghazipur where his speech drew a large crowd.
Mobilising farmers is not new to this 31-year-old MBA from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. He changed his professional ambitions from aspiring for a high-paying job and dedicated his time to the farmers’ cause after a visit to villages near Amritsar and Ludhiana.
“I spent a lot of time at Singhu and Tikri borders but had to go back on December 26. I was part of two meetings with the government as well. We also took out our own rally in Odisha in solidarity,” he said.
“Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are very prosperous. Things in Orissa are stark. Farmers in the tribal areas have to resort to manual labour despite owning 10-12 acres of land. They don’t have money to even buy slippers,” Mahapatra told The Tribune.
“That visit to the tribal villages changed me. I returned home, bought a scooter and started visiting villages to mobilise farmers as there weren’t any active kisan unions in my state. I used to sleep in temples and schools. I was thrashed in Ganjam in 2013 as people took me for a child snatcher,” recalled Mahapatra, who is from Darentheng village near Bhubaneswar
The same scooter is now being used as a prop for a whiteboard for a makeshift school in many of the tribal areas.
“Now, we have volunteers who have taken over, and we are active in over 40 villages. We also run an orphanage for around 30 children,” Mahapatra, who is also the state president of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh was quoted as saying.
From being thrashed by locals for being an alleged child snatcher, and by goons for trying to mobilise Odisha farmers to being jailed at least seven times, he has gone through it all.
“I don’t know how many times I have been injured. My parents and relatives were worried and wanted me to get a job. But now, they are supportive,” Mahapatra told The Tribune.
