“Agitation will continue until the results show,” said freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy as the agitation led by him demanding action against grabbers of government land in Karnataka entered the 12 day in Bangalore.
The Anti-Land Grabbing Struggle Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Doreswamy and A.T. Ramaswamy, who headed the Joint Legislature Committee on Encroachment in Bangalore Urban District, decided to launch a hunger strike too, if necessary.
Former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, labour leader Anantha Subbarao and film music director Kalyan shared the stage on Friday with the two leaders.
Mr. Hegde said that forgery and falsifying government documents are criminal offenses and there are sufficient provisions in the current laws to take action. “No new laws are needed. The government should immediately take action against the criminals involved in land-grabbing,” he said.
Mr. Doreswamy on Thursday rejected the appeal of Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra to withdraw the agitation. Mr. Ramaswamy said the committee has decided to take up the agitation to a logical conclusion. “We have decided to formulate an agitation similar to the struggle for Indian independence.”
One of the supporters of the agitation said, “This agitation will not conclude in few a days because it is launched against powerful and influential persons. The cloth pandal erected for staging the protest is insufficient. We have to erect a metal roofed one since we do not know how long it will continue.”
