NV Ramana has supported the farmers' protest and accused the current YSRCP government of filing cases against farmers for their agitation.
Former CJI NV Ramana. (Creative Commons)
Amidst the “Mementha Siddham” campaign of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former Supreme Court Chief Justice NV Ramana alleged that the state government filed cases against several farmers.
The former CJI said that cases were filed against the farmers who protested against the proposed three capitals by the incumbent state government.
Ramana made the allegations at an event on Thursday, 28 March, during the Vijayawada Krishna Milk Union’s 32nd annual board meeting.
Farmers from Amaravati met Ramana upon his arrival to participate in the meeting and discussed their protest against the YS Jagan-led government’s decision to have three capital cities for the state.
After the bifurcation of the state in 2014, the then-TDP government proposed that Amaravti would be made India’s first greenfield capital city.
The decision was made after the state lost Hyderabad to the newly formed Telangana.
However, after the YSRCP assumed power, it introduced a plan for three capitals — Visakhapatnam as the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital. This decision brought the development of Amaravati to a halt three years ago.
Subsequently, farmers from Amaravati, whose lands were taken over by the government to develop the capital city region initiated protests against the decision.
Ramana supported the farmers’ protest and accused the current YSRCP government of filing cases against them for agitation.
He said, “The previous government requested land from farmers for capital development, and the farmers complied. They committed no crimes, yet the government filed cases, even against female farmers.”
Amaravati has been a bone of contention between Ramana and YS Jagan for a few years.
In October 2020, YS Jagan submitted a letter to then-CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde, alleging that Ramana had been influencing the proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and acting in favour of the opposition TDP.
However, the complaint was dismissed by then-CJI Sharad Bobde.
Furthermore, there was an FIR registered against Ramana’s two daughters for allegedly purchasing land in conspiracy with former Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh Dammalapati Srinivas.
However, the FIR was quashed by the state high court due to a lack of evidence and vested interests.
Addressing the event, the former CJI said that he also comes from a farmer’s family and believes that farmers need reservations in the political and legal system due to the lack of representation.
Highlighting the lack of representation for farmers within the judicial system, he explained, “Once, a farmer came to the Supreme Court seeking compensation. A colleague of mine questioned why a farmer had to travel so far from a taluka court to the Supreme Court, even after receiving 10,000 in compensation. It took me a day to explain to him the deep bond between a farmer and their land, akin to the relationship between a mother and her child.”
“Only industrialists are surviving with the farmer’s face and there is no real farmer representation in politics,” he quoted.
He claimed that, as seen recently, anti-farmer Bills were being passed in the state Assemblies and the Parliament due to a lack of representation for the group.
Ramana further said that even if the Bills were challenged in court, the time taken to obtain a judgement was uncertain.
He also opined that the political parties had taken the farmers for granted and had not implemented any special initiatives.
Farming is still not recognised as an industry, he said, adding: “The farmers neither get proper MSP, nor compensation from the losses due to drought or floods.”
He also trained guns at the YS Jagan government referring to the Amaravati farmer’s protests.
Ramana said the farmer’s protest could be termed one of the biggest farmers’ protests in South India.
He added that the farmers were selfless and the only thing they expected was the bare minimum price for their produce and oppressing them by any government is a sad state of affairs.
The former CJI urged the farmers’ unions in South India to unite, akin to their counterparts in the Hindi belt who challenged the farm laws and compelled the Union government to retract the Bills.
He further alleged: “Due to the current government’s policy, the female farmers have been protesting for the past 1563 days.”
“I had attended the foundation stone laying ceremony of the capital city following the invitation of the then-government. I had even said in a press conference that it was impressive to see the farmers offering their land for the development of the capital city even though they have a bond similar to that of a mother and child with their lands,” he said.
He expressed that justice will be delivered to the farmers, and commented: “After willingly giving up their lands, it saddens me to see them standing in the courts as accused. I hope the government realises this now and steps forward to ensure justice for them. With my legal background, I believe justice will eventually be delivered, even if it comes late.”
In a setback to former chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) filed a third charge sheet against him on 11 March.
The latest charge sheet pertains to the alleged ₹4,400 crore illegal land pooling of government-assigned lands of about 1,100 acres in the then-proposed capital Amaravati.
According to the CID, a clandestine collaboration unfolded among Naidu, former minister of urban development P Narayana, various ministers and their benamis.
It said they intended to wrest control of assigned lands in the Capital City Area from the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Backward Class (BC) communities.
They allegedly instilled fear within these communities, convincing them that the government would confiscate their assigned lands through the Land Pooling Scheme without compensation, thus coercing them to sell at lower prices.
The CID asserted that these ministers put pressure on government officials to issue GO 41, exploiting the benefits of the Land Pooling Scheme specifically for assigned lands in villages like Mandadam, Velagapudi, Rayapudi, Uddandarayunipalem, etc.
On 1 January, 2015, the then-TDP government rolled out the Land Pooling Scheme and Rules to acquire land for the proposed capital city Amaravati.
A year later, on 17 February, 2016, GO 41 was issued, permitting the purchase and sale transactions of assigned lands, originally prohibited by the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977.
Despite explicit legal advice from the then-Advocate General (AG), the accused ministers deliberately and in a coordinated manner violated legal mandates, the CID claimed.
As part of their plan, the ministers allegedly enlisted their family members as benamis to purchase assigned lands from poor individuals, the CID alleged.
Subsequently, they pressured Sub-Registrar officers to allow registrations and GPAs (General Power of Attorney) on lands in the prohibited list, as revealed in statements recorded under Section 164 of the CrCP before the magistrate.
On 17 December, 2019 — barely six months after the YSRCP assumed power in the state — YS Jagan hinted in the Assembly that Andhra Pradesh might have three capitals and the government might look into that option for the overall uniform development of the state.
A day after the announcement, farmers in 29 villages who parted with their land for the proposed core capital of Amaravati launched an agitation, which completed 1500 days recently.
Notwithstanding the protests, the Jagan government implemented laws to develop three capitals instead of the single capital at Amaravati. The construction activity in Amaravati also came to a complete standstill.
The main reason behind YS Jagan’s decision to shift the capital from Amaravati is said to be the perceived influence of the Kamma community.
YS Jagan alleged that Amaravati was planned and designed as the state capital to primarily benefit the Kamma community, the community of Naidu.
Touting decentralised governance and equitable development of all regions of the state as the aim, YS Jagan proposed three capitals for post-bifurcation Andhra Pradesh.
However, in the last four years, the YS Jagan government could not implement its three-capital plan due to various reasons, including legal tangles.
The farmers also challenged the three capitals Bill introduced in the Assembly in January 2020.
With the matter under judicial consideration, YS Jagan repealed the three capital bills in November 2021, pledging to introduce a “comprehensive” Bill after addressing loopholes in the previous version.
On 3 March, 2022, the high court ruled in favour of the farmers, declaring Amaravati the sole capital.
However, YS Jagan challenged this verdict in the Supreme Court in September 2022. The matter is pending before a bench comprising justices Sanjeev Khanna and Deepankar Dutta.
Meanwhile, as Andhra Pradesh heads to elections in approximately 50 days, the opposition coalition of TDP-JSP-BJP is promising to reinstate Amaravati as the sole capital.
In contrast, YS Jagan has stated his intention to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam during his second tenure as part of his three-capital plan.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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