Bangalore, Oct 4 (DHNS): The protests against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu are set to pick up momentum over the next few days, with Bangaloreans being the most affected, with a series of protest rallies on Thursday and Friday and a State-wide bandh on Saturday on cards.
According to those who are staging protests in the river basin district of Mandya, the protests will turn the heat on the people of Bangalore who, according to them, have not shown enough sensitivity to the problems faced by farmers in the Cauvery belt.
“Bangalore gets about 30 tmc ft of water annually but they are not responsive when it comes to supporting or participating in the ongoing agitation in Mandya and Mysore.” one of the organisers said.
Meanwhile, there was high drama at the KRS dam on Wednesday when nearly 10,000 farmers converged in Mandya to vent their anger against the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu. The dam site had turned a fortress with heavy police presence.
The protesters arrived in buses, lorries and tempos from several villages, raising slogans against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha. Elected representatives, belonging to the Congress and the JD(S), faced flak when they did not lead the farmers, as promised.
Leaders, including Mandya MP Cheluvarayaswamy, were accused of “selfish motives,” when they got into a goods autorickshaw and posed for the TV cameras. One of the protestors vented out his ire by hurling a chappal at him, while stones were targeted at other elected representatives.
For the bandh-racked Bangaloreans, it is deja vu again. Last month, they had three days of disruption of normal life, On September 13 and 14 when KSRTC and BMTC employees went on an agitation seeking a hike in salary, and on September 20, when the BJP, the Left parties and various trade organizations organised the all-India bandh against the FDI, cap on LPG cylinder supply and fuel price hike.
The ongoing Cauvery agitation has already disrupted train and bus services between Bangalore and Mysore.
On Thursday, farmers led by the Rajya Raitha Sangha are planning to lay siege to Raj Bhavan at 11.30 am on the ground that Governor H R Bharadwaj “has failed to protect” the interest of the State on the Cauvery issue. A couple of thousand farmers are scheduled to take out protest from Freedom Park, Seshadri road to Raj Bhavan, according Kodihalli Chandrashekar who heads the Sangha.
On Friday, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike will take out a protest rally from National College, Basavanagudi to Raj Bhavan via the busy roads of JC Road, Hudson Circle, Mysore Bank Circle, Seshadri Road and eventually to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to the governor to request the CRA to review its decision.
Vedike head T A Narayana Gowda said farmers of Mandya are not only agitated over the CRA but also the attitude of Bangaloreans who had “distanced themselves” from the problems faced farming community. An organisation calling itself Kannada Okkuta, comprising several pro-Kannada organizations, has given a call for a state-wide bandh on October 6 on the same issue.
The Okkuta has the support of the Janata Dal (secular), several well-known Kannada writers, Akhila Karnataka Dr Rajkumar Abhimanigala Sangha, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce among others. Janata Dal(S) spokesman Y S V Datta said: “We are going to support the statewide bandh. A grave injustice has been done to the state. We had no choice but to release water as per the Supreme Court direction. But at least now the Centre should be assessing the ground reality before further causing distress to the State,” he said.