MYSURU: Objecting to the police projecting protesting farmers as terrorists, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) on Friday said that the Federation of Kisan Morcha has nothing do with violence that unfolded at the Red Fort on Republic Day. Regretting the incident, KRRS president Badagalapura Nagendra said that Sangha members will go on fast on Martyrs’ Day, which marks the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, on January 30 in front of Gandhi statue at Maurya Circle in Bengaluru.
He said members of KRRS and other like-minded organisations will hold similar protests in all districts from morning till evening demanding an independent inquiry into the violence in New Delhi. He demanded that the identities of those behind the incident should be made public after an inquiry by prominent personalities.
He saw the Union Government’s hand behind the incident and said farmers were not responsible for the violence as they treated policemen like brothers. There is a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the organisations heading the protest and it is condemnable that cases have been registered against protesters projecting them as terrorists, he added.“Why didn’t the government protect the Red Fort? Why were hooligans not stopped from crossing the four gates,” he asked.
The Kisan Morcha leaders had alerted the police that a few miscreants posing as farmers would create trouble during the tractor parade. But the failure to stop them has given rise to suspicion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amith Shah could be behind police inaction to defame the agitation and to forcibly evict farmers from protest sites, he alleged.
The agitation will not stop even if farmer leaders are put behind bars, he warned.Farmer leader Chamarasa Mali Patil criticised the Centre’s adamancy even after 11 rounds of talks with the farmer’s forum. He slammed the government for pushing cow slaughter ban, amendments to APMC Act and Land Reforms Act which are against the interest of farmers.