It has been 1,188 days since farmers in Channarayapatna hobli, Devanahalli taluk, launched their resistance against the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) and its proposed acquisition of 1,777 acres of prime agricultural land across 13 villages. As per the report of Deccan Herald, what began in April 2022 as a local agitation has since evolved into one of Karnataka’s most sustained and widely supported people’s movements, one that has now drawn in workers, civil society groups, intellectuals, and minority communities in a broad coalition against corporate-led development and forced dispossession.
The struggle reached a new inflection point on July 4, 2025, when representatives of the Anti-Land Acquisition Struggle Committee and allied platforms met with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who sought 10 more days to find a “legal pathway” to undo the final land acquisition notification issued in April 2025.
The next meeting, slated for July 15, is widely viewed as a deadline for the state government to keep its word or brace for a massive escalation of protests across Karnataka.
The land at the heart of the storm
The land in question is not barren. The Deccan Herald report provides that the said land is fertile, multi-cropped, and irrigated, producing grains, vegetables, fruits, flowers, silk, and milk for nearby Bengaluru’s food markets. According to the report of The Hindu, for farmers like Jagadish of Polanahalli, who lost 2 acres in an earlier phase, this land is not just property—it is memory, meaning, and sustenance. Today, he works as a farm labourer on what used to be his own farm. “Now they want to take the remaining 1.5 acres. I would rather die than lose this again,” he said while speaking to The Hindu.
This sentiment is echoed throughout the 13 villages. Over 95% of families have rejected the acquisition, citing not only the emotional and economic cost but also the legal violations involved in their open letter to CM, sent on June 24, 2025). According to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, consent from 70–80% of landowners is mandatory for such acquisitions. Surveys indicate that more than 80% of affected farmers have not consented, as per Deccan Herald.
According to the report of New Indian Express, farmers also allege that of the 1,282 acres acquired in an earlier phase, much of the land has either remained unused or been diverted to private builders and educational institutions like Brigade Builders (73 acres), Chanakya University (116 acres), and IFFCO Nano Urea (13 acres).
Broken promises and state betrayals
In September 2022, then-Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah stood with these very farmers at Freedom Park, beside a symbolic peepal sapling, and promised to cancel the land acquisition if the Congress came to power. As per the report of Deccan Herald, that plant was brought back to Channarayapatna and rooted in village soil—a living reminder of that assurance.
But in April 2025, the Congress-led government issued the final notification, effectively greenlighting the acquisition. The backlash was swift. On June 25, thousands marched in a ‘Devanahalli Chalo’ rally. The police responded with brutality—beating, detaining, and harassing protesters. Shockingly, the crackdown occurred on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency.
The Indian Express’ report highlighted the plight of 1omen like Yangtamma, who spent ₹8–9 lakh to plant pomegranates on her 5.5-acre farm, now fear their life’s work will be bulldozed. “The government calls this development. I call it destruction,” she said, while speaking to media.
“This Land is Our Life”: The protesters speak
At the heart of the movement is a moral and existential cry: “This land is our life. Without it, we are nothing.”
Raghu M, who grows sandalwood on 10 acres, says his parents’ samadhi lies on that land. “If it is taken, I will die by suicide next to it,” he told Indian Express. Gopinath A.S., another protester, explained how he was denied a borewell NOC because of the acquisition plan. “If we lose this land, we’ll end up as gatekeepers and gardeners in those factories. We know nothing else,” he added, as per the IE report.
Jagadish, who lost land in 2018, received ₹80 lakh, two years late, after paying 25% in bribes. Now he cannot afford a plot in his own village, the report of The Hindu highlights.
Despite being offered exclusion from acquisition, farmers from three spared villages continue to protest in solidarity. “Until all 13 villages are dropped, we fight together,” said Lakshmamma from Nallapanahalli told Indian Express.
Legal violations and socio-economic threats
Experts and activists have pointed that the acquisition violates the Karnataka SC/ST Land Transfer Prohibition Act, 1978, since over 160 SC/ST families, many of them land grantees, stand to be rendered landless as per the Deccan Herald. Of 800 affected families, 387 will lose their only landholding.
Food security is also at stake. Farmers warn that Devanahalli supplies vegetables, dairy, and flowers to Bengaluru. Already, milk output in Mattabaralu has halved following earlier land losses, as reported by The Hindu.
Solidarity: A growing people’s alliance
This movement now receives a wide web of solidarity. On July 1, the Karnataka Muslim Muttahida Mahaz (KMMM) marched to Freedom Park. Convenor Masood Abdul Qadir declared the struggle “legitimate and morally binding,” reminding the Congress to uphold its promises to farmers, Dalits, and minorities, as per Clarion India.
Top Muslim clerics and scholars joined hands with farmer leaders from across Karnataka, forming an unprecedented inter-community front for land justice. “This is not just about soil. It’s about dignity,” said Muhammad Yusuf Kani of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind to Clarion India.
Meanwhile, over 30 public intellectuals, including Ramachandra Guha, Madhura Swaminathan, and T.N. Prakash Kammarad, issued an open letter to Bengaluru’s corporate and tech leaders, demanding they speak out, according to The Hindu report. The letter also cited CAG Audit Report No. 8 of 2017, which had flagged irregularities in KIADB land dealings.
Countdown to July 15: Decision or conflagration?
The Struggle Committee, following the July 4 meeting, agreed to wait until July 15 for a final response. But the warning is clear: if the government fails to cancel the notification, the agitation will intensify across the state, possibly with Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s national support, their Joint Statement provided.
On July 9, the farmers’ demand will be included in the nationwide workers’ strike, linking agrarian justice with labour rights.
In the meantime, awareness campaigns, village meetings, and signboards reading “Our Land, Our Right” will be installed across Channarayapatna hobli, according to the said join statement released by them.
Beyond Devanahalli: A national reckoning
The Devanahalli struggle forces us to ask: Who benefits from development? And who pays its price?
“This movement is different,” said activist Mallige, while speaking with Deccan Herald, adding that “It speaks not of land prices but of land preservation, one that holds farming as dignity and future”.
In its endurance, its unity, and its moral clarity, the Devanahalli movement has become a mirror to India’s growth model- one that too often replaces food security with concrete and memory with profit.
The farmers are clear: “We are not giving up. This land is not for sale. This land is life.”
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