Karnataka: Farmers on riot path

Bengaluru: The 12-hour state-wide bandh called by farmers, labour unions, pro-Kannada and Dalit organizations against the amendments made to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Land and labour reforms last week by the Assembly evoked a mixed response.

The call for a bandh given by the Karnataka Raitha Sangha (Karnataka Farmers' Association) and other farmer organisations was supported by the Congress, JD(S), Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and the Left parties.

Ignoring the Covid fear, farmers came on the roads in groups, raised slogans, took out bike rallies, burnt tyres in protest on the road and staged sit-in demonstrations. Though the public transport was slow, shops and small scale eateries were open sparsely.

Bruhath Bangalore hotels Association has not extended its support to the bandh saying hotels come under essential services.

The protesting farmers alleged that the amendments made to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Land will ruin the agriculture sector and deprive them of the minimum support price and enable multinational companies and big corporate houses to directly procure produce at their rates. Pro-Kannada outfit Kannada Rakshana Vedike activists barged inside Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport to mark their protest.

Protesting farmers marched from town hall to freedom park. Over 300 of them were detained including KRRS leaders Kodihalli Chandrashekar and Kurburu Shanthkumar. Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, state-in-charge Randeep Surjewala and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah joined the protest.

The protests were staged at important locations in Bengaluru, Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru, Ballari, Raichur, Chitradurga, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Bidar, Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dharwad and Davangere among others. At many places, the demonstrators courted arrest. In Bengaluru, farmers and KRV members including its chief T A Narayana Gowda took out a rally and tried to stop buses when they were arrested. Protests were held at various places including Mysuru Bank circle, Town Hall, Yelahanka and Ballari Road in the city.

Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and leader of the opposition, said the amendment of the APMC Act will result in huge losses not only to farmers but also to consumers. "Private companies will buy agricultural products at lower prices from farmers and sell them at higher prices. If the state government was actually in favor of the peasantry, the workers and the poor, then the APMC Act, the Land Reform Act and the Labor Act could not be amended. With the amendment to the Land Reform Act the rich will also buy agricultural land. Then the farmhouses and factories will head to the agricultural land. The agricultural sector will be destroyed," he explained.

The protesters asked for the withdrawal of changes made to the land reforms act and Essential Commodities Amendment Bill be withdrawn City police commissioner Kamal Pant said the bandh was peaceful in the city and "those who were involved in closing the shops forcefully and stopping public transport were taken into custody".

AICCTU in a statement stated that "We condemn the actions of the state and the central governments whose capitalist and anti-worker agenda is writ large in the regressive amendments to law being forced through during a public health crisis." The chief minister, BS Yediyurappa said that the amendment of the APMC Act and Land Amendment Act will not be a problem for the farmers.

"As a farmer's son, I work as a chief minister with the blessings of the farmers. With the APMC amendment, farmers can sell their crops at a good rate, either at APMC or in any part of the country. I ask farmers to see how it goes for six months. APMC does not close the door. Farmers' relatives are being misled," he defended the amendment.