Bengaluru: Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to direct Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa to revoke the ordinance which effectively removes restrictions on the purchase of agricultural land.
It can be recalled the BJP-led Karnataka Government amended the Land Reforms Act, removing the restrictions on the purchase of agricultural land, arguing that people were already buying the land through corruption. The government also argued that removing the restrictions would attract more investments.
In the letter, which he posted to Twitter, Siddaramaiah wrote that removing the restrictions is “in tune to the interests of Bengaluru land mafia which is waiting for more land to be made available to make enormous profits through real estate”.
He warned that the state government’s move would have a “multi-pronged effect on the farming community and the political economy of Karnataka”. He termed the state government’s move a unilateral decision “without taking the farming community into confidence”.
My letter to Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi urging him, in the interest of farmers, to direct @CMofKarnataka @BSYBJP to revoke Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. pic.twitter.com/v1QyT8x3Sz
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) August 27, 2020
Siddaramaiah, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, also stated, “Historical efforts to make the tiller as the owner of the land will be undone and pave the era of the rich owning the land.” He also added that the amendment would once again make the farmers “vulnerable”.
“The farmers and their families will be adversely affected and many will be forced to be the labourers, due to economic or social vulnerabilities, in the lands of industrialists or big farmers. There is more possibility of manifestation of the Zamindari system which was the main reason for the backwardness in rural areas,” the former CM added.
