Water disputes may be grabbing the eyeballs in the run-up to the Assembly elections, with political leaders issuing a statement each day, but a quieter movement is building up on the issue of land rights.
The Congress government’s promise to provide land to the landless, shelterless and bagair hukum cultivators, which activists claim has barely been implemented, is being raised afresh ahead of the elections. Activists are also demanding that the Opposition BJP and JD(S) make their stand clear on the issue.
The Movement for the Rights of Landless and Shelterless (MRLS) launched an indefinite dharna on January 10, led by freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy. He has described it as the “ultimate struggle to realise Gandhiji’s dream of Bhoodan”. A congregation of the landless, drawn from across the state, is to be held on Saturday.
Mr. Doreswamy is staging the dharna at Vallabha Niketana Ashram (near Gandhi Bhavan), the place where Vinoba Bhave launched his Bhoodan Movement in Karnataka. Over hundred representatives of the MRLS are also staging the dharna. “I consider this the second Bhoodan Movement and I will not rest till the issue is resolved,” said the freedom fighter. “It is my life’s mission.”
The government had promised to discuss the issue on December 2, 2017, but the meeting was postponed. After ten days of the dharna being launched, the Chief Minister has now promised a meeting on January 27.
The movement began with over 10,000 landless labourers taking to the streets on August 20, 2016, demanding that the government distribute encroached government land to them on the birth centenary of D. Devaraj Urs, architect of land reforms in Karnataka. The movement has continued since then and has gathered new momentum ahead of the elections.
“Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa, who met the protesters and not only expressed his solidarity but also assured them of taking the issue to its logical end, is now silent,” said Noor Sridhar, convener of the MRLS.
