Responding to the nationwide ‘chakka jam’ call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a joint front of farmers’ organisation that was leading the farmers’ agitation in Delhi opposing the three farm laws, hundreds of activists blocked National Highway 50 at Ram Mandir Circle in Kalaburagi for three hours on Saturday.
Activists of different mass organisations of Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), and other left parties as well as those from Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Dalit and women organisations blocked the circle by noon. A few Congress leaders, including B.R. Patil and Allam Prabhu Patil, and medical students from various colleges participated in the agitation supporting farmers’ cause. The agitation disrupted the traffic movement on the highway and the Kalaburagi Ring Road. The police had put barricades in all roads to divert traffic.
“All those who raise their voices supporting the cause of the agitating farmers are being suppressed. When singer Rihanna extended her support to the agitating farmers, the government asserted that it was India’s internal matter and outsiders need not intervene in. But, it is a matter of human rights and everybody has the right to raise their voice. When Nelson Mandela was pushed behind the bar, the world had condemned it. The Narendra Modi government is showing its dictatorship over farmers. As many as 170 farmers have lost their lives in the agitation and yet the government is not heeding,” Mr. Patil said.
“If the farmers are in trouble, the country will be in trouble. Farmers who feed the nation are facing serious problems. We are participating in the agitation because we felt it was our duty to express our solidarity with them. We demand the government to consider farmers’ demands,” A.D. Guttedar, an MBBS final year student, told The Hindu.
Addressing the crowd, H.V. Diwakar of SUCI said the implementation of the controversial farm laws would make farmers slaves on their own farmlands.
“The farm laws in question are amended to help the corporate class and not the farming community. Many essential commodities are removed from the Essential Commodities Act to allow the corporate companies to stock them and cause artificial scarcity so that they could make huge profits by raising the prices,” Mr. Diwakar said.
Sharanabasappa Mamshetty, Bhimashankar Madiyal, K. Neela, Mahesh Rathod, M.B. Sajjan, Ashwini Madankar, Rajendra Rajwal, and other leaders were present.
