Former Minister Kimmane Rathnakar staged a hunger strike in front of the taluk office of Tirthahalli in Shivamogga district on Friday, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, opposing the recent laws concerning the farming sector.
He began the protest after offering flowers to portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Rathnakar said both the Union and State governments had been engaged in implementing anti-farmer policies. Both governments had no concern for the farming community. With the implementation of the new laws, the farmers would lose their land gradually. Similarly, they would also lose right over their produce with a law weakening the APMCs, he said.
Further, he alleged that the people in power had no respect for Mahatma Gandhi. Those in power had been in glorifying Nathuram Godse, the person who killed Mahatma Gandhi. “The people of the country will teach the BJP a lesson for its anti-farmer and anti-poor policies,” he added.
Another protest
The District Congress Committee also staged a protest against the controversial law in Shivamogga. Workers of the party took out a protest march from the party’s office to the Deputy Commissioner’s office. Along the protest march, they raised slogans against the Centre and State government. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the President to the DC.
The party’s district president H.S. Sundaresh, former legislators Belur Gopalakrishna, K.B.Prasanna Kumar, MLC R. Prasanna Kumar, Women Congress president Anita Kumari and others led the protest.
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