Nara Lokesh draws flak from farmers’ unions of his own State for trying to take advantage of Karnataka’s ‘pro-farmer stand’

Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh has drawn flak from farmers’ organisations in his State for extending an open invitation to the aerospace industry to Andhra Pradesh with an offer of 8,000 acres of ready-to-use land.

Mr. Lokesh, son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, had put out an open invitation to the aerospace industry on social media on Tuesday in a bid to take advantage of the Karnataka government shelving the process of acquisition of 1,777 acres of farmland in Devanahalli taluk, near Bengaluru international airport, for the proposed defence and aerospace park, following stiff resistance from farmers.

Farmers’ organisations in Andhra Pradesh termed his promise of providing 8,000 acres of land just outside Bengaluru as “inappropriate” and the struggle by Karnataka’s Devanahalli farmers demanding shelving of land acquisition as “historical”.

‘Highly inappropriate’

In a statement, Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao, convener of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers’ Associations’ Coordination Committee and Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s Andhra Pradesh unit, said, “Farmer organisations of Andhra Pradesh strongly object to this highly inappropriate statement. Without the consent of the farmers in the Lepakshi Knowledge Park area and without paying the legally mandated compensation under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, the government has no authority to give away farmers’ land.” 

Mr. Rao, who had earlier served as Agriculture Minister in the Chandrababu government, defended the demand by Devanahalli farmers to shelve the land acquisition. “The proposed land acquisition has been strongly opposed by local farmers in a historic struggle. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, respecting the farmers’ demands, announced the withdrawal of the proposal.” 

Tejasvi Surya draws flak

Meanwhile, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has drawn the ire of farmers’ leaders from Karnataka for endorsing Mr. Lokesh’s statement by posting on social media that “this is how business is attracted, industry is welcomed and jobs are created. Hope Karnataka Government learns from Nara Lokesh Garu and correct its course.” Mr. Surya deleted his post later.

Objecting to this, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Badagalapura Nagendra made it clear that farmers were not opposed to industrialisation, but were against acquisition of fertile farmland for industrial projects.

Questioning the logic of Mr. Surya, he said: “The farm sector continues to be the biggest employment generator in the country as it engages nearly 60% of the country’s population. There is a dire need to protect the farm sector too.”

Mr. Nagendra referred to the impact of losing green spaces around Bengaluru and said that there is increasingly not even adequate water to take care of the city’s growing needs.

Idea of development

KRRS (Collective leadership) president Chukki Nanjundaswamy too took exception to Mr. Surya’s statement and maintained that agriculture and development are not contradictory. “Development does not mean only industrial development. Development of the farming sector is also development,” she said, opposing the view that heeding the demand of farmers to drop acquisition of their fertile and productive farmland for an industrial project, would not make a business sense.