Jana Sena president and movie star Pawan’s tweet that he wants to meet the farmers of river-front villages resisting the government move to take their lands for capital construction, enthused villagers immensely, raised their expectations.
Hours after Pawans tweet, his fans and farmers performed kshirabhisekam to the actor’s portrait in Mangalagiri keeping it by the side of the statue of Babasaheb Amdedkar.
“We are trying to bring him to the villages in two or three days as the government has started issuing notifications for the land acquisition,” said D Balaji Reddy, a farmer-leader fighting against the taking over of fertile lands for Capital construction. Many farmers T-360 spoke to believe that as said earlier, pawan would sit on fast in support of their cause as government was going ahead on land acquisition forcibly.
Talking to T-360 from Vundalli village, Balaji said Pawan’s arrival would change the situation here.
” That Pawan wants to visit our villages is a welcome decision. The earlier the better, he should come immediately. Irrespective of political affiliations, we welcome everyone who supports our cause and stands by us,” Balaji Reddy said.
Pawan visited these villages in March and extended his support to the fight of the farmers to protect their lands. Interacting with the huge sea of farmers, actor, popular as Power Star, threatened to launch an agitation to oppose the land acquisition under duress. When farmers complained that about highhandedness of authorities, he even announced to the applause that he was ready to fight on their behalf.
“If necessary, I will go on fast-unto-death to protect your land,” Pawan said. Many think Pawan will stand by his word and sit on fast to stop the acquisition of highly fertile land for the construction of capital.
Balaji said a notification had been issued last night for some land was not legally untenable. The notification is based on the central ordinance and GO 166. ” The ordinance is valid up to the end of this month. After the than it is null and void. So, the land acquisition notification will also get lapsed. We will challenge this in the court,” he said adding that a case against the GO 166 was already in High Court.
