In a press conference held at the Bengaluru Press Club, the Working President, District Council Member and State Secretary of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangathan (KRRS) spoke about their continued opposition to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
At a press conference conducted JM Veersangaiah, working president and Arun Kumar Kurudi Distirct Council Member of the KRRS spoke against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).. They distributed pamphlets that were meant to highlight the difficulties and challenges that had cropped up for farmers due to the laws and policies of the current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
“We have made 10 lakh pamphlets so far. We have distributed them to farmers across Karnataka and asked them not to vote for the BJP,” JM Veersangaiah said.
They cited the lack of action from the central government regarding loan waivers, drought relief as well as the farm laws it had introduced (and revoked) regarding the plight of farmers in Karnataka as the main reason.
“Thirty farmers die every day under the rule of the BJP. We have around 80 lakh people in the agriculture sector here in Karnataka. whose cattle is dying. There is no rain this year, and the central government has failed to provide us with drought relief,” Arun Kumar Kurudi said.
The speakers said that the central government had failed to provide adequate compensation and financial maintenance of the families of farmers who had died.
They also expressed displeasure with the lack of a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP), due to which many farmers and farmer’s unions from various states of India had marched to Delhi to protest against it.
“Corporations buy up land and labour and fill malls with products made from our crops. They are purchasing these crops at prices which are unsustainable for farmers,” said JM Veersangaiah.
He also expressed his disapproval of the way the farmers were treated when they went for the ‘Delhi Chalo Yatra’.“They blocked roads, they attacked the farmers, they did not let them go to Lok Sabha in order to protest,” said Veersangaiah.
Talking about farmers who were not able to sell their crops at right price at the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Veersangaiah said, “ The APMC amendment was made to solely benefit the profits of builders and big corporations. The government looks after their interests more than the farmers’ interests. Without a minimum support price to guarantee their subsistence, all farmers would face exploitation, irrespective of the size of their land.”
“BJP is not supporting agriculture. They are not standing by their promises. They are just speaking words, not taking action,” said Arun Mukar Kurundi.
