Cancel roadshow, visit scenes of injustice in B'luru, PM told...will he?

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Civil society organisations Bahutva Karnataka (BK) and Eddelu Karnataka (EK) on Friday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that he cancel his Saturday roadshow.

They asked Modi to instead visit 10 places where the BJP State government had committed “injustice” on day one and limit his rally to Freedom Park o n the second day, adding that commoners be allowed to ask the prime minister questions at the venue.

“We do not know why you need to come do a road show here, for which lots of trees have had branches cut, street vendors prevented from doing business and roads blocked. Given you are coming, we would like you to go to these spots,” the letter read.

10 places to visit?

BK and EK cited news reports to back up claims of injustices, starting off by asking him to visit Shivaram Karanth layout for “ignoring the demands of f ar mers for f air compensation,” and “destroying standing crops”. The second spot mentioned was ITI where workers were laid off for unionizing, asking why the Contract Labour (abolition and regulation) Act 1970 was not followed by the BJP government.

The Jayanagar Bangalore Development (BDA) Complex where the BBMP allegedly violated the Street Vendors Act 2014 by evicting more than 300 vendors without notice is the third place. A survey of street vendors is also pending. The fourth spot was Ejipura Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quarters “where the Yeddyurappa government gave this land on a platter to BJP MLA (Uday) Garudachar who has still failed to construct houses.”

The Lokayukta had recommended to the BBMP to take back the land but the government hasn’t responded. The Electronic city police station limits where “terrorist” Puneeth Kerehalli used a stun gun on a citizen and broadcast it live made up the fifth place.

Thereafter Modi was advised to eat lunch at the nearest Indira Canteen, asking why funds for the facilities were cut drastically leading to many of them closing down. The sixth place was the Majestic bus stand where he could “ask bus commuters about the troubles they face.”

In 2018, the BJP manifesto promised doubling of the bus fleet. Instead, out of the 6,500 buses, only 5,600 are on the road as hiring of drivers has been halted. Cottonpet police station was the seventh spot mentioned since a Dalit youth died in custody here.

The eight place was Mahadevapura where Pourakarmikas stayed in tents and had their houses flooded and damaged due to rain. The State government had promised to regularize the sanitation workers and provide them with housing, but these promises also haven’t been met. Namma Clinics set up by the State government and Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) made up the ninth spot so as to make the PM aware of the dearth of medicines and staff at the facilities.

The tenth and final place was Devanahalli, “where farmers who are protesting land acquisition had cases filed against them because the protest was not at Freedom Park?