BENGALURU: Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar led the farmers' protest in the city on Thursday demanding implementation of a drinking water project. In an interview to Express, Chandrashekar apologised to the people for the inconvenience caused by the protest but blamed the police. Excerpts:
Why did you decide to protest?
People in Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural have been suffering for years.
Our protest was to demand permanent irrigation facilities. The water in these regions is full of fluoride and groundwater has dried up. Even if we dig 1,800 feet, there is not a single drop of water.
CM Siddaramaiah had promised that the government would address the issue.
The assurance given by the Siddaramaiah government two years back was a lie. Nothing has been done about the Yettinahole project except laying a foundation stone. The project will only bring 7 tmcft of water.
We are looking for bigger solutions. The CM must tell us if he can bring water from the Western Ghats and Krishna river.
But why a violent protest?
Our protest was peaceful. The police turned it into a violent one. Did the farmers pelt stones? Let the government and the police commissioner answer.
Why did they cane us? We got prior permission from the police to use 500 tractors. But we were stopped. Why? I say the lathicharge was planned.
How many farmers have been arrested?
They have arrested over 350 farmers, and many were severely injured.
Farmers too did not cooperate with the police.
The police are saying that the farmers tried to run tractors over them. There is no truth in that.
The protest led to traffic jams and caused inconvenience.
I apologise for that. But, had we been allowed to continue our protest as planned, we could have reached Freedom Park in 15-20 minutes. But the police stopped us and are responsible for everything.
What is your plan now?
We will plan a state-wide agitation against the government's action. We will consult all farmers' associations and take a decision.