The Janata Dal (Secular) protest against the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) project took a turn on Monday after police stopped the party’s padayatra near the Kanaminike Village on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway.
This has forced Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who was leading the three-day march, to call it off on the second day.
The padayatra led by JD(S) leaders and farmers opposing the government’s proposed land acquisition for the Bidadi township was part of a larger padayatra against the project.
The JD(S) had been aggressively targeting the D.K. Shivakumar government over the proposal but had kept its campaign on hold following the death of H.D. Deve Gowda’s wife, Chennamma, last month. The padayatra, which was postponed following her death started on Sunday from Byramangala, one of the major villages from which land will be acquired for the GBIT project.
Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Opposition leader R. Ashoka were present at the launch of the march on Sunday, though several BJP leaders were conspicuous in their absence.
The JD(S) and BJP have been demanding that the government drop the township project, arguing that the proposed land acquisition would affect farmers and agricultural land in the region. The government has maintained that the project is aimed at planned urban expansion and development around Bidadi. Yesterday, DK Shivakumar came out with a video message saying that the government would give ₹3 crore per acre of notified land.
The JD(S) campaign was also countered by farmers and residents supporting the project. On Sunday, the latter published a front-page advertisement in newspapers criticising the JD(S) and BJP, pointing out that leaders of the two parties had been associated with the project when they were in power. Welcoming the JD(S) padayatra, the advertisement described it as an “atonement yatra”.
On Monday, police stopped the march near Kanaminike, citing law-and-order concerns. Rather than to escalate the confrontation, the JD(S) decided to end the padayatra.
“We will not take the law into our hands. Today’s protest has been called off peacefully,” Kumaraswamy said.
However, he said that the larger agitation would continue. The JD(S) will hold another major protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on August 18 in the presence of former PM and party patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda, he announced.
The Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township project has emerged as a fresh flashpoint between the Congress government and the Opposition, with the JD(S) seeking to mobilise farmers and residents against the proposed land acquisition.
