The protesters said that development does not mean snatching land from small farmers and making them landless and vulnerable.
Published Jun 30, 2025 | 10:19 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 30, 2025 | 10:19 AM
Farmers' rights activists held a meeting to discuss their plans.
Synopsis: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will meet with representatives of the protesters who have been holding an indefinite protest against the forced land acquisition in Devanahalli. They have also planned a massive mobilisation on the same day.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will meet on Friday, 4 July, with representatives of the protesters who have been holding an indefinite protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru against the forced land acquisition in Devanahalli. They have also planned a massive mobilisation at Freedom Park on the same day.
Leaders of various movements connected to ‘Samyuktha Horata-Karnataka’, including Varalakshmi, Badagalpura Nagendra, V Nagaraj, and Noor Sridhar, held a meeting at Freedom Park on Sunday to discuss their next steps.
They demand that the Cabinet, which will be meeting on 2 July, take up this issue for discussion even though it’s not part of its agenda.
Chukki Nanjundaswamy, a farmers’ rights activist, told South First that there will be a big mobilisation on 4 July, the day of the meeting with Siddaramaiah, and that people will be waiting at Freedom Park to hear the decision.
According to the protestors, they have secured all necessary permission for this massive mobilisation.
When asked whether they are expecting a positive response from the government, she said, “The government has to pay heed because they are going against their own law. The UPA had drafted a beautiful law which says that for acquisition for any public purpose, 80 percent of the consent is mandatory.”
“In this case, almost 80 percent of the people have said in writing that they are not ready to give away their land. They can’t go against their own law,” she added.
However, when asked whether they had any alternate plans if things did not go according to plan? Chukki said, “We will definitely intensify this struggle. The government is the representative of the people; they have to remember that.”
Clarifying that the agitators were not opposing development, she explained that development does not mean snatching land from small farmers and making them landless and vulnerable.
On 25 June, hundreds of farmers had converged near the taluk office at Devanahalli, a Bengaluru suburb, and issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to de-notify the land and drop the acquisition plan. The protesters said they would intensify their stir if the government failed to heed their demand.
The farmers have been protesting for the past 1,178 days against the acquisition of 1,300 acres at Channarayanapatna Hobli, and the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board’s (KIADB) plan to take over an additional 1,777 acres of farmland spread across 13 villages in Devanahalli. The protest began after the farmers were issued notices in January 2022.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
