A large number of farmers led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) staged a protest in front of the Lead Bank (Canara Bank) here on Tuesday. They were protesting the alleged discrimination in granting loans to farmers. “While banks give thousands of crores as loan to big industrialists, they harass the farmers by not sanctioning loans for their agricultural activities”, the protesters said. Farmers are being subjected to insult if they fail to repay the loans, they said.
They alleged that the banks are acting like agents of the rich and corporates. Some protesters wore masks of industrialists Vijay Mallya to mock the discriminatory loan policies of banks.
“Agriculture should be considered as an industry and anomalies in sanctioning loans to farmers must be removed”, KRRS State vice-president K. Narayana Gowda said while addressing the protesters. Student wing leader A. Nalini spoke.
