The ongoing winter session of the State legislature at the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi is attracting a large number of protesters. At last count, as many as 62 individuals or organisations had sought permission to hold protests at a site demarcated near the Suvarna Soudha. Another nine had sought permission to meet Ministers to submit memoranda.
This has been the trend over the last 16 years during which 10 winter sessions were held in Belagavi and the numbers have only been going up, officers said.
Multiple demands
The organisations that are protesting in Belagavi include various caste or community groups that are demanding better reservation facilities, from Panchamasalis to Madiga Samaj and Madiwala Samaj. There are labour unions ranging from those linked to specific factories to contract employees of various government agencies, civil contractors, nurses, and anganwadi workers.
Interestingly, while an application by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti to hold a Maha Melava (mega rally) was rejected by the police, there were no applications by the Kannada organisations to hold protests about the border issue.
There are also various kinds of farmers’ groups protesting. Their demands include compensation for crop loss during floods, fair price for farm produce, payment of arrears to sugarcane farmers, market intervention for copra, chilli and millets, payment of compensation to farmers whose cattle died from lumpy skin disease, procurement of jowar, completion of irrigation projects, opposition to land acquisition, among others.
There are some unique protests, like the one by Seetavva Jodatti, who was awarded the Padma Shri for her work on the rehabilitation of Devadasis. She is sitting along with members of the Devadasi Kalyan Sangha to demand better rehabilitation of former Devadasis. Another was by Bheemappa Kanaki, a 90-year-old farmer from Rainapur village, against alleged encroachment of public land in the village.
Why this venue?
What makes the Belagavi session the favourite destination for protests, even from far-off places? A look at the list of organisations seeking permission shows that at least half of them are either State-level organisations or those based in Bengaluru or Old Mysore region. For example, copra growers have come from Tiptur in Tumakuru district.
Jayashree Gurannanavar, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Karmika Mahila Sangha leader, argues that the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru is a “fortress” in which all the VIPs huddle and “exclude outsiders”. “They don’t allow us to meet the leaders or officers there. But in Belagavi we can easily speak to the Ministers or even the officers. Moreover, the protest venue is not far from the winter session venue. That is why all those who have a grievance flock to Belagavi,” she said.
G.V. Kulkarni, trade union leader of the LIC employees’ union, feels that the media tends to highlight the protests in Belagavi as against those held in Bengaluru.
How effective?
However, the effectiveness of protests remains a moot question. Gajanan Talwar, a leader of Sangolli Rayanna Yuva Vedike, said the State government takes up issues related to the border or the protection of Kannada, when there are protests in Belagavi and not Bengaluru. “People in Bengaluru think that we are only disrupting traffic. But here, it is a question of an issue or cultural identity,” he said.
However, Vishweshvaraiah Hiremath, a community organiser with the Grameena Koolikarmikara Sangha, takes a more dismal view. “We sit for hours till a Minister or Opposition party leader comes to visit. They receive our memorandum and leave. That is the end of it. That is why we did not plan a protest this year,’‘ he said.
