‘Build strong mass movement against farm laws in Karnataka’

Concluding a three-day tour of Karnataka on Monday, a delegation of nationwide farmers’ leaders, together with Rakesh Tikait and Dr. Darshan Pal, who’re main the movement in Delhi, had one message for the State’s farmers: “Build a strong mass movement against farm laws in the State. The movement has to take root in south India if it has to become truly national.”

Addressing a rally in the town on Monday, Mr. Tikait known as upon farmers to dam Bengaluru’s borders with tractors like in Delhi. “It was in this State that Prof. M.D. Nanjundaswamy thought way ahead of his times – protested against GATT agreement and also rightly foresaw the threat of corporates, and protested against firms like KFC almost three decades ago. Today, we are living the reality he foresaw. The entire food sector is being corporatised. This is going to be the business of hunger,” he stated. “The State government here has not only blindly implemented all the farm laws by the Centre, but also brought in more amendments to the Land Reforms Act, which is a conspiracy to snatch away our lands,” he added.

Samyukta Horata – Karnataka, a coalition of farmers, Dalits and labour teams, has been constantly organising protests against the farm laws in the State, although it hasn’t taken the form of a mass movement. The Horata has now introduced a Karnataka bandh on March 26. Farmers’ chief Badagalpura Nagendra stated they’ve deliberate a Raita Mahapanchayat in north Karnataka in May for which the goal is to organise one lakh individuals.

Another farmers’ chief Yuddhaveer Singh stated the BJP-led Union authorities first tried to model the movement as restricted to Punjab and later Khalistani supporters, however later Haryana and U.P. joined. “Now, it is the turn of Karnataka,” he stated. “The Union government may have not responded to the movement, but our support is only growing. Labour unions protesting the new labour codes and privatisation have joined us, the traders have also joined us. Geographically too, the movement is spreading. Karnataka has shown that it is truly a national movement,” he stated.

State Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil visited the rally website and accepted the memorandum of calls for from farmers on behalf of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. The farmers demanded repeal of three farm laws by the Union authorities, aside from rollback of amendments to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, Karnataka APMC Act and the current cow slaughter invoice, amongst a bunch of different points.