Bangalore, June 17: Speakers at a meeting organised to pay tributes to the departed freedom fighter and Communist Party of India leader B V Kakkilaya, here, on Saturday, expressed concern over the recent adverse social and political developments in Karnataka.
Former minister B A Mohideen lamented that the new generation of the political and social leaders have failed to adopt the values of broad-minded leaders like Kakkilaya.
He said that coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, which once had leaders like Kakkilaya and was the cradle of land reforms, has now turned into the hotbed of communal politics.
G N Nagaraj of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said that the stage was set for “strangling” the progressive provisions of the legislation in the next session of the Legislative Assembly by making it easy for people who are not farmers to buy agricultural land and increasing the land ceiling. The amendment, he added, would sound the death knell of small and marginal farmers and make way for companies to grab land.
He said that the role of decades-long struggle of Communists in giving a progressive edge to the Land Reforms Act in Karnataka was not given its due while chronicling the history of reforms in the State. Mr. Kakkilaya was the “spirit” of that struggle led by the undivided Communist party, he added.
Writer and editor of the magazine Hosatu, G. Ramakrishna, said that people like Kakkilaya could work overlooking factional differences, which was something that political activists today have to draw lessons from.
National Secretary of the Communist Party of India S. Sudhakar Reddy also spoke.
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