The protests by farmers in the capital region to keep their fertile lands from being taken away by the government for construction of a new capital fizzled out because of a fear-induced anxiety, divergent interests, gullibility to some extent and most importantly, absence of an organised approach to put up a strong fight.
“The demands for the landless farmers were not loud enough. The farmers’ movement has not really caught on. The tenant farmers are not the organised lot. The domination of wealthy farmers is such that the farm labourers are not able to think that even if they put up a united fight, they would achieve what they want,” says Kiran Kumar Vissa, State committee member of Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV), a grassroot NGO working on farmers’ issues.
The region has 75-80 per cent of landless farmers. The government assurance on providing work to farm labour in the new capital is very misleading, he says. “The sophisticated machinery likely to be used in the construction works would be of no use to old women now involved in year-long agriculture works. The farm labour, therefore will feel completely at loss in the new urban set-up,” he says.
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Divergent views among farming community, has played the issue down. Land owners in drier regions are ready to part with their lands but a lot of them in the core 9-10 villages are holding out and seem to be willing to wait till the end for a ‘better deal’.
“The social security pension of Rs. 2,500 per month to a family for 10 years is very nominal. Absence of an organisation of the landless farmers that could really dig its heel in to change the equations is a big problem,” he admits.
B. Ramakrishnam Raju, convenor of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) echoes similar views. “The NAPM guided and supported them besides giving them a platform to organise themselves. But for reasons like caste, party affiliations or individual aspirations, the farmers failed to come together,” says Mr. Raju.
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It’s a predominantly SC bastion and there is a common feeling that the local MLA, also from the SC community, has already convinced the farmers that this is the best deal the farmers could get.
In 50 per cent villages like Undavalli, Penamaka, Kishtayapalem, Venkatapalem, Nouluru, Betapudi, Nidamarru, Dolasnagar, Mandadam, farmers have sold their lands for less than the original rate. In some villages, almost 85 per cent of the land has been sold. This will have a perilous cascading effect,” warns Anumolu Gandhi, joint convenor of the now disintegrated Rajadhani Prantha Rythu, Rythu Coolie Hakku Parirakshana Samithi.