The site of the indefinite protest by farmers from north Karnataka — in front of the BJP office in Bengaluru — was, on Tuesday, a pit stop for political leaders, trying to gain political mileage, language activists and even filmstars.
While Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil and BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa made back-to-back visits, film actors and Kannada activists also visited the protesting farmers.
With the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) set to hold the final hearing in February 2018, the farmers were resolute in their stand that the issue cannot be politicised.
Among the first ones to visit the venue were Sa. Ra. Govindu, president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), and producer Rockline Venkatesh, to express the support of the film industry.
Before Mr. Yeddyurappa arrived, after the core committee meeting, Mr. Patil, on behalf of the government, met the agitators and explained to them, what he claimed was the, “genuine effort” being made by the Congress to get justice to the farmers.
He said that though the government had written to the Goa Chief Minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Water Resources, there was little headway because of apathy of the BJP leaders. Mr. Yeddyurappa, who came soon after, failed to convince the farmers to stop the agitation.
Speaking to reporters later, he demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should get Congress president Rahul Gandhi to convince the Goa Congress unit to drop its opposition to the demand.
Mr. Yeddyurappa accused the Congress of playing politics with respect to the Mahadayi row. Various social organisations, including the Janasamanyara Vedike, are supporting the protesters by providing them food and water. At the venue, passers-by were seen distributing water, fruits and other eatables to the farmers. When The Hindu visited the protest site, a resident of the area offered the farmers’ leader Veeresh Sobaradmath prasad from a nearby temple. “I only want you to get justice and I hope you are not deceived,” she told him. Farmers said that many visitors to the multiple temples on the street were offering them prasad almost every day since the start of their protest here.
