Leaders and members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (Karnataka State Farmers’ Association), who were travelling from Kodagu district to participate in a protest against the proposed Bidadi Township, were stopped and detained by the police at the district border recently.
The farmers’ leaders and activists, travelling in buses and other vehicles under the leadership of Kodagu District Farmers’ Association President Manu Somaiah, were intercepted by the police at Tithimathi while proceeding towards the protest venue.
Objecting to the police action, the farmers’ leaders expressed strong dissatisfaction, stating that participating in a peaceful protest in support of farmers’ rights was their democratic right.
They alleged that preventing them from joining the protest without any valid reason was unjustified and contrary to democratic principles. Despite their objections, the police detained all the protesters and shifted them to the Kudumangalore Cooperative Bhavan in Kudige, Kushalnagar taluk.
In protest against their detention, the farmers’ leaders and activists staged a hunger strike at the Cooperative Bhavan and condemned the police action, demanding that they be allowed to participate in the farmers’ agitation.
