Young farmer ends life, Chikkaballapur shuts down

BENGALURU: A young farmer, Anand Kumar, committed suicide by swallowing pesticide in front of the deputy commissioner’s office at Chikkaballapur, setting off protests and a visit by JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda, who urged the local administration to permit the family to perform the last rites on a piece of land under dispute, on Friday.

Local JD (S) leaders issued a call for bandh in Chikkaballapur on April 25 to protest against the local administration. Anand Kumar and a few other farmers visited the DC’s office on Wednesday to lodge their protest against an attempt by panchayat members and officials to auction cashew crop grown by him on Gomala (grazing) land, but he took everyone by surprise by consuming the pesticide. He was rushed to a hospital but succumbed early Friday morning. Mr Gowda, who rushed to participate in a protest by his party workers, spoke to revenue minister Srinivas Prasad and ensured that land, which the district administration claimed was encroached upon by Anand Kumar and his family, be registered in the name of the family.  “Don't force me to resort to an agitation again. I am here to solve the problem and not to resort to politics,” warned the former prime minister.  The JD(S) patriarch’s decision to rush to Chikkaballapur to lend support to protesting party workers revived memories of his march from Vittalenahalli to Bengaluru to protest against police firing which claimed the lives of two farmers in 2001. His protest against the government headed by S M Krishna not only helped him return to Lok Sabha but also garner the sympathy of farmers across the state and win 58 of 224 Assembly seats in polls held in 2004.