Farmers in Devanahalli have been protesting for more than 840 days against Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board's (KIADB) move to acquire over 1,777 acres of fertile farmland. On Tuesday, July 23, farmers began their protest at Devanahalli and had planned on marching to the Chief Minister's residence in Bengaluru to demand that the land acquisition process be stopped.
However, the police detained around 200 farmers in Devanahalli and took them to a police training centre in Bengaluru’s Thanisandra. During the protest, the farmers were joined by many citizen activists. They demanded the dismissal of Minister MB Patil from the cabinet and stop the land acquisition in Devanahalli.
With an aim to protect their agricultural land, Devanahalli farmers have continued their protest for more than two and a half years. They said acquisition by KIADB would allegedly affect 400 families and criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for not solving their issue despite his promises that he would stand by the farmers when he was the Leader of Opposition.
“The BJP-led government called the struggling farmers several times and insulted the farmers without giving any kind of decision. Farmers who protested for justice were subjected to brutality by the police who filed cases against us. Siddaramaiah, who was the opposition leader at that time, came to our protest site and supported us. However, when the Congress government came to power, Siddaramaiah has been harassing the farmers,” a press note by the farmers said.
The protesting farmers have held several meetings with CM Siddaramaiah, Devanahalli Minister in Charge KH Muniyappa and Industries Minister MB Patil since the Congress government came into power. Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh also met with Siddaramaiah to discuss the land acquisition. However, according to the farmers, two villages were served notices about the land acquisition continuing the very next day.
“Shocked by this, the farmers met the Minister MB Patil and KH Muniyappa who said that it was impossible to listen to the farmers' demands and behaved aggressively with them. This attitude of his shows his indifference towards the farmers. The farming community can never tolerate the fact that Industry Minister MB Patil, who is acting like an agent of corporate companies, has insulted the farmers and has no interest in the words of the Chief Minister," the note added.