BENGALURU: Sugarcane farmers, protesting for the last 22 days demanding better prices for their crop, were arrested when they were on their way to hold a black flag demonstration at the G20 meeting venue in Devanahalli on Tuesday.
The first G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) meeting, which is being hosted by the Union Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, started on Tuesday in Bengaluru. Delegates from G20 countries are meeting here for three days from Tuesday.
A few members of the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, along with their president Kurubur Shanthakumar, were heading towards Devanahalli, when they were stopped by the police at the Hebbal flyover. These farmers had earlier warned the state government that they would hold the protest outside the G20 venue.
Shanthakumar, in a media release, said the state government should resolve farmers’ woes by changing the agri-loan policy, offering interest-free loans and providing interest-free loans for the education of farmers’ children.
“We have been protesting over the last few days. As we wanted to grab some eyeballs and the spotlight on our problems, we were heading towards the G20 venue. The police did not give a valid reason before arresting us. They took us in three batches to the KSRP grounds,” he stated. A few farmers, who were protesting peacefully at the Freedom Park, too were arrested, he added.
Wading into the issue, opposition Congress condemned the act of the government and police. It tweeted, “It was assault on Dalits yesterday and today it is one farmers. Farmers who were demanding to give their pending amount were arrested shows government is anti-farmers (sic).” It also said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s government will come to an end soon.