We will give life, not land: Villagers

It has rained particularly well, so far, in this year’s monsoon – a stark difference from last year’s arid climes that had farmers worried about their crop that eventually failed.

Cultivation, however, promises to be good this year, but farmers in Patdi taluka of Surendranagar aren’t rejoicing. They are worried because a Special Investment Region (SIR), which is spread over 63,000 hectares of cultivable land, threatens to rob them of their livelihood.

And as was apparent on Tuesday, the villagers are not going to take the ‘takeover’ lying down. About 2,000 of them from 44 villages marched 140 km from home to Gandhinagar to shout their voices in the state government’s ears.

‘We will give life, not land’ was a clear message conveyed to the government.

The protesting farmers say that the state government is trying to “grab” their farms for the proposed Becharaji-Mandal SIR and land for Maruti Suzuki’s next manufacturing plant at Hansalpur. They allege that the state government had kept them in the dark and initiated process to acquire the land.

The villagers, to stop the land from slipping away from their hands, have now come together under the banner of Jamin Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG) and marched to Gandhinagar in protest.

Former BJP MLA Dr Kanu Kalsaria, who had led a similar protest in Mahuva two years ago, rallied behind the farmers. Dr Tejashree Patel (MLA from Viramgam), YK Alagh (former member of the planning commission), Sanat Mehta (former state finance minister), Jayesh Patel (General Secretary of Gujarat Khedut Samaj) and Lalji Desai of JAAG also lent their support.

The 150 track-n-tractor strong cavalcade reached GH-2 in Sector-7 of the state capital at 5pm, where cops had been on their toes since morning.

The crowd settled in soon at the open plot. Kalsaria addressed them first, followed by other leaders. He asked them to continue with the fight till the time the government withdraws notification for the SIR. “Put signboards on each of your villages, stating that no official (of SIR) is allowed to enter the village. Not only SIR, Maruti’s plant too should leave Hansalpur,” said Kalsaria.

A delegation of farmers also went to meet state revenue minister, Anandi Patel, but returned empty-handed. “She snubbed us… she who became a minister with support of farmers,” said Lalji Desai, who led the delegation. “She insulted us and asked us to submit a memo and leave. It’s time to beef up our agitation as the government, elected by us, isn’t listening (to us).”

The gathering disbursed at about 7.30pm.