The Karnataka authorities has issued a directive cautioning officers in opposition to unauthorised changes to land mutation data and issuing eviction notices to farmers beneath the Waqf Act.
In a letter to regional and district-level commissioners, income division principal secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria knowledgeable the regional commissioners and deputy commissioners within the districts about chief minister Siddaramaiah’s instruction to guard farmers cultivating these lands.
The letter was after a gathering convened by chief minister Siddaramaiah to handle complaints that properties in sure areas had been transferred to the Karnataka Board of Waqfs with out due course of.
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In his directive dated November 9, Kataria acknowledged, “The officers who served reminder-2 regardless of the chief minister’s route will face acceptable disciplinary motion.” He mentioned that each one earlier instructions altering mutation data and eviction notices associated to those lands have been rescinded. It added that each one the notices served previously have additionally been withdrawn and no motion ought to be taken in opposition to the farmers who’re cultivating on the mentioned land.
Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged final month that they had been served eviction notices because the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.
Siddaramaiah’s intervention was prompted by quite a few petitions from farmers throughout northern Karnataka who allege that their lands had been marked as Waqf properties. Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Modification) Invoice, Jagdambika Pal, visited Hubballi, Vijayapura, and Belagavi districts, accompanied by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, to handle these issues and converse with affected landowners.
In response to criticism from the BJP, minister Priyank Kharge mentioned, “Not our authorities, however even throughout the BJP authorities, the notices of Waqf that had been issued have all been stopped and requested to withdraw… CM has assured that the agriculture that’s being carried out by farmers can be given safety; such an order has been issued… The BJP is doing politics; throughout their regime, did they shut the Waqf board?”
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The political stress intensified because the BJP accused the Congress authorities of stifling voices supporting farmers.
BJP state president BY Vijayendra mentioned, “The federal government led by CM Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka Congress, aiming to transform Karnataka’s land into Waqf property, is focusing on those that increase their voice for farmers by submitting false complaints to intimidate them.” Vijayendra additionally criticised the federal government for what he known as “divisive politics,” claiming that “the hidden agenda of submitting FIRs is to scare farmers.”
BJP Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya grew to become the centre of the dispute after an FIR was filed in opposition to him by the Cybercrime, Financial Offences, and Narcotics (CEN) police in Haveri district for allegedly spreading misinformation. Surya had shared a social media put up based mostly on a media report, suggesting {that a} farmer had taken his life eight years prior, allegedly after the Waqf Board claimed possession of his land.
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Responding to the FIR, BJP leaders argued that this motion indicators the Congress authorities’s prioritisation of the Waqf Board’s pursuits over farmers’ welfare. Vijayendra added, “Our farmers, already burdened by debt, can be pushed to an much more distressing state if they’re pressured to surrender their land, their sole supply of livelihood, to Waqf authorities.” He expressed issues that the dispute may exacerbate farmers’ monetary hardships and psychological stress, noting that “till this authorities, which is utilizing the Waqf concern to create unrest within the state, is eliminated, Karnataka may have no peace.”
With PTI inputs
