BENGALURU: As the satyagraha for ‘sacred economy’ through indefinite fast launched by theatre director and Gandhian activist Prasanna entered the fifth day on Thursday, Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda assured him of taking up the issue with the Union Finance Minister. Prasanna is likely to call off the indefinite fast on Friday.
Satyagraha demands the removal of GST on handmade products, creation of jobs and protection of nature. “They have asked for a platform to present their demands and I have assured them of a meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This meeting will be held within a month and I have requested him to withdraw the fast. He has promised to withdraw the fast on Friday as he wants to do it on Jayaprakash Narayan’s birthday,” Gowda said after meeting Prasanna. On the demand for removing the GST on handmade products, Gowda said the central government is trying to balance the tax rates.
Meanwhile, social activist Medha Patkar, fashion designer Prasad Bidappa and several others wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending their support to the satyagraha and asking him to look into the demands.
“This satyagraha for sacred economy demands zero tax, refinancing and restructuring all sacred sectors of the economy. Sacred economy, at the present juncture, means that system of production that utilises a minimum of 60 percent human labour, as also sixty percent local raw material and not more than forty percent automation and not more than forty percent imported raw material. Monster economy is that which contravenes all these stipulations,” the letter stated.