A confrontation between the farmers and the State Government is brewing as the latter seems unlikely to repeal amendments brought to State laws to effectively implement farm laws enacted by the Union Government. This is despite the Narendra Modi-led Government repealing three farm laws recently.
Farmers’ organisations are demanding that the State Government should not delay rollback. Samyukta Horata-Karnataka, a coalition of farmers, labour, Dalit, and other organisations will hold a ‘Raitha Adhiveshana’ led by Dr. Ashok Dhavale, a core committee member of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, at Belagavi on Sunday.
They will pass a resolution demanding rollback three laws — Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Act, 2020, The Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 2020, and The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha has planned gherao of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
Badagalpura Nagendra, a convener of Samyukta Horata, said: “If the three laws are not repealed in the Winter session, we will launch a State-wide agitation, hold 10 raitha mahapanchayats across the State, and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders who succeeded in taming the Union Government will join the protests in the State. We will gherao Vidhana Soudha with over a lakh farmers during the Budget session in February,” he said.
Another farmer leader, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, said it will be suicidal for the ruling party to persist with the laws in the State, especially after the Union Government has repealed them. “We will be forced to take the fight to every village and ensure BJP is defeated in the upcoming the Assembly and Parliamentary elections,” he said.
However, the State Government, as on Saturday, had no plans to repeal these amendments in the legislature session starting Monday.
“Presently, there are no plans to withdraw the amendments brought to the Karnataka APMC Act and Karnataka Land Reforms Act. We need not repeal the amendments just because the Union Government has rolled back the farm laws,” said Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister J.C. Madhuswamy.
