Communist Party of India State secretary K. Ramakrishna was arrested along with other party activists at III Town police station in New Delhi on Tuesday for picketing the police station as a protest against the three Farm Laws passed by the Centre and supporting agitating Punjab farmers.
The party cadre had planned a tractor and bullock-cart rally from Krishna Kalamandir to Tapovanam Junction on National Highway No.44 to organise a ‘Road Blockade’ to protest the alleged indifferent attitude of the State government to come to the rescue of the Amaravathi farmers, who will be completing one year of agitation on December 17; not compensating the Anantapur farmers who had lost groundnut yield in lakhs of acres out of the 13 lakhs sown in Kharif season.
The Anantapur police personnel scuttled their plan and seized all the tractors and bullock carts and stationed them close to the III Town Police station on Tuesday morning.
Mr. Ramakrishna said the State government in the name of input subsidy, crop insurance, and other nomenclature, was only confusing the farmers, but not doing enough to compensate for the loss they due to excess rain in this district. “That ₹930 crore input subsidy sanctioned by the previous government for the crop loss in 2018 Kharif was still pending, was proof enough to say the government does not care for the farmers,” Mr. Ramakrishna added.
When the CPI leaders picketed the police station and did not relent, the police personnel arrested Mr. Ramakrishna and other party cadres. They were later released.
