BENGALURU: Admitting its mistake in erroneously marking 1,200 acres of farmers’ land in Karnataka’s Vijayapura district as Waqf Board assets, the state govt announced Monday that it will withdraw notices issued to the farmers.
Govt’s hasty U-turn from the planned takeover of the land in Tikota taluk’s Honavada follows protests by farmers and Congress’ fear of BJP raising the bogey of ‘land jihad’ in the upcoming bypolls. Sensing trouble, infrastructure development minister and Vijayapura district incharge MB Pati on Sunday conceded that only 11 acres belong to Waqf Board and attributed the mistake to “an error in a gazette notification”. “Congress govt does not have any intention of taking away farmers’ land. BJP is pursuing politics in the matter unnecessarily,” law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil said, blaming the tahsildar for the error.
On demands for the resignation of house and Waqf minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, HK Patil said, “Why should Zameer quit? If the tahsildar had served the notices, then the deputy commissioner will investigate it.”
Bangalore South BJP MP, Tejasvi Surya, visited the affected farmers on Friday and criticized the govt. BJP’s R Ashoka on Monday alleged that Congress was attempting to “seize 15,000 acres of farmland” in Vijayapura in the guise of Waqf acquisition.