Articles by Lalitha Natraj

KARNATAKA Assembly Election Portents Lalitha Natraj THE date for the Karnataka assembly elections has been fixed for March 5, The future of the Janata party in the state hinges on its performance in these elections. The Lok Sabha elections have produced an all-India wave in favour of the Congress(I) although there are significant exceptions. In Karnataka the Janata party appeared confident of winning ten seats but ultimately ended up with four. In relation to expectations the party had, this seems rather a come down. But in fact this has to be seen against a particular background. In the 1980 elections Janata managed only one seat, Bangalore South ov a margin of just over 2,000 votes. In 1977 it could manage just two. In 1980 Janata received barely 23 per cent of the votes, whereas in the recent elections it has secured nearly 42 per cent. Considering the all-India pattern these should be regarded as impressive gains. There is more to this. Of the pitifully small representation of ten seats for the Janata in the Lok Sabha, Karnataka has contributed four. While ten seats in Parliament hardly justifies for the Janata the nomenclature of a national party the fact that Karnataka, traditionally a Con- gress(I) stronghold, has contributed four out of this ten is significant. Yet another point of interest is that the Janata has recorded an increase in the popular vote even in comparison with the 1983 elections to the state assembly.

witnessed a somewhat unusual protest organised by Dalit Sangarsh Samiti (DSS). The protest was against the inaction and silence of Dalit legislators, members of parliament and ministers in the face of growing atrocities against Harijans. The Samiti's representatives called upon members and sympathisers to demonstrate against the indifference of their own leaders. The pamphlet issued on the occasion explicitly singled out Dalit MPs, ministers etc, fox trenchant criticism and focused on the fact that Dalits in power had got there by virtue of using their Dalit status and had subsequently become an integral part of the establishment. The DSS demanded that Dalit ministers, MPs and legislators should boycott parliament and state legislators until those responsible for atrocities against Dalits were suitably punished; and that they should offer dharna before Parlia- meant and legislatures until all firearms and other weapons currently with the landowners were seized and Dalits armed for self-protection. The Samiti also declared that if the legislators and ministers did not comply with the demands the Samiti would be compelled to press for their resignation through strikes, etc.

November 22, 1980 KARNATAKA Farmers' Agitation Lalitha Natraj THE farmers of Karnataka provided a big surprise for everyone, and a jolt to Gundu Rao's government by launching an agitation a few months ago, In a state not known for overt agrarian unrest this is indeed a remarkable deve- lopment Perhaps the only comparable agitation of fanners in the past was in the early fifties in the Shimoga district when the socialists spearheaded a farmers' agitation. Popularly called the Kagodu Raitara Satyagraha it ended, as most such uprisings unfortunately do, mainly due to internal dissensions. There has been no other major demonstration of bitterness by fanners, certainly not on an organised scale and the state has also not witnessed the kind of landlord- peasant struggle-, in however sporadic a form, as several other states have.