Bidadi land row: HD Kumaraswamy backs protesting farmers, promises legal aid

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) Amid the row over land acquisition for a township on the outskirts of Bengaluru, JD(S) state president and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said he would visit the protesting farmers on July 16, and that his party would extend legal assistance in cases filed against them.

Kumaraswamy alleged that "fake" FIRs had been filed against protesting farmers and residents of Mandalahalli village in the Bidadi region for stopping a government survey team on Monday.

The JD(S) chief said two FIRs were filed against 11 people, including women and some who were not even present at the spot. "The two complaints are identical and copy-paste," he said, adding that they were filed to "coerce and threaten" the farmers.

He pointed out that the FIRs were lodged by an inspector who was on duty at the location for the first time and by the driver of one of the government vehicles that carried officials to the village.

"They should have included my name, not the innocent farmers," Kumaraswamy told reporters, warning the state government against misusing its authority to acquire farmland forcibly.

The farmers were keen to move court, and that the JD(S) would stand by them, he said, adding, "Based on the FIR, they will arrest (the farmers). We will go to court and get them bail." Asserting that JD(S) supported the peaceful protest by farmers, Kumaraswamy said more than 80 per cent of the land proposed to be acquired was fertile agricultural land.

"We will give legal assistance to the farmers," he reiterated.

The Union minister said the issue was not about compensation. "Farmers are not ready to give up their land. Those for whom they are developing (the township), they can do it on dry land, not agricultural land," he said.

The Bidadi township row is a politically charged land acquisition dispute over the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) near Bidadi, where farmers and villagers -- backed by Opposition parties -- have been resisting government attempts to survey and acquire several hundred acres of agricultural land.

The standoff follows a final notification to acquire roughly 500 acres in the first phase of a larger, 7,400-7,500-acre township project spanning Bidadi and Harohalli, a plan that has kept affected families agitating for over a year. PTI