Bengaluru: The JD(S) padayatra to protest the proposed Bidadi Township project ended abruptly Monday after police stopped protesters at Kaniminike on the outskirts, preventing them from proceeding towards Bengaluru.After police blocked protesters, JD(S) youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy called off Day 3 of the march, while announcing the agitation would resume at Freedom Park on Aug 18 under the leadership of former PM and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda. The 93-year-old had joined the second day of the march and urged the state govt not to force farmers to give up their land for the project.“We will not take the law into our hands. We have peacefully called off today’s protest,” Nikhil said.Protesters reached Kaniminike toll plaza junction after taking the service lane instead of the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway. After a break for lunch, they sought to march towards NICE Road junction via Challaghatta Metro station, but police objected, citing the possibility of severe traffic congestion.“A heated argument followed, during which some protesters pushed police and attempted to cross barricades. We detained them, following which they dropped their plan,” a senior police officer said.Gowda said he was prepared to go to jail as part of the agitation and would join the Freedom Park protest. He urged the govt to protect farmers’ livelihoods. “Why are you (govt) pushing farmers onto streets and saying layouts will be developed on their land? Who has applied for sites?” he asked.Gowda also challenged CM DK Shivakumar to disclose whom he had met in Delhi before becoming CM and what assurances he had given regarding the project. He urged the govt to honour its assurance that farmers would not be forcibly evicted or their land acquired. “Whether they have half an acre or one acre, they build livelihoods on it,” he said.Gowda said age would not stop him from continuing the agitation. “My body may have aged, but my mind has not. I am always ready for a fight,” he said.Meanwhile, chief minister DK Shivakumar lampooned JD(S), saying: The padayatra is just a political exercise aimed at securing Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s political future. No farmers are participating in the march. JD(S) workers were brought from other constituencies to participate. But staging protests is a democratic right. We will not stop them.”
