Janandolana, a people’s struggle launched by the Bhoomi Mattu Vasati Hakku Vanchitara Horatara Samiti, is set to make its presence felt for the first time in Belagavi. Its activists, led by veteran freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, have decided to launch an indefinite Satyagraha in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on the eve of the winter session of the legislature, which commences on November 21.
Leaders and activists of several other organisations, including the Karnataka Raitha Sangh, Karnataka Janashakti, Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Janasangram Parishat, Aranyamula Budakattu Samudayagala Okkuta, Grameen Kulikarmikara Sanghatane and Dalit-Damanitara Swabhimani Horata Samiti will join the Satyagraha.
The Satyagraha will go on till the government responds to demand on implementation of the ‘land to the tiller’ and ‘housing for all’ promises. If the government ignores the protesters, an agitation will be launched in Bengaluru and other parts of the State, said Sirimane Nagaraj, spokesman of Bhoomi Mattu Vasati Hakku Vanchitara Horatara Samiti, at a press conference on Thursday.
He said that large sections of the population are still without shelter and the government has not been sincere in implementing its own decision of granting ownership titles to tillers cultivating forest land for decades.
In fact, the government is grabbing agricultural land to facilitate establishment of industries and is giving such firms incentives, tax holidays, land, water and power under the pretext of development, he charged.
Mr. Nagaraj said several organisations are fighting for the same cause but remained scattered on the ground. It took a long time for them to come together for a common cause and decide to pose a direct question to the government. “Don’t we, the poor and the Dalits, have no right to shelter and land?” he asked.
The other demands of the organisations are setting up a high-power committee to look into the issues of housing for all and land to the tiller, taking out land auditing to check inequitable distribution of land, and discouraging the corporate-real estate nexus to grab property.
The Satyagraha will go on till the government responds to the demands of various organisations
