An IT engineer walks for farmers
Nagaraj S Kalkutagar was just 100 km outside the New Delhi border, when the news filtered in: the farm laws would be repealed.
This was something of an anti-climactic moment for the 40-year-old Geo-Spatial engineer from Bengaluru, who had walked more than 5,000 km over the course of 185 days to raise awareness about the farm laws.
“In two days, I would have finished the padyatra,” says Nagaraj . “I was in Mathura at the time when phone calls started coming in.”
Then, there was the pressure from the media for him to turn up in Delhi to provide newsbytes. “Even the people I met started to question me about my purpose now that the announcement was made. That’s when I made the decision to end the yatra,” he says.
Farmers’ organisation leaders and activists say what makes Nagaraj ’s padyatra special is that he decided to do this on his own, without any party affiliation.
“It is easy for those from an activism background to do things like this. But even his decision to set out alone on the padyatra is appreciable,” says Naveen, a farmer leader from Hassan.
Yashwant, another farmer leader from Mandya, echoes this sentiment and appreciates Nagaraj ’s dedication.
But what promoted him to start walking in the first place?
“It [farm laws] is an anti-people law,” says Nagaraj. But mostly, he was disheartened by the government’s response to the protest.
Calling it an “autocratic” response, Nagaraj asks “Are we not supposed to raise our voice at all? I felt if it doesn't stop it here, things will get worse.”
When thinking of ways to raise his concerns, the idea of walking all the way to the site of the protest in Delhi seemed natural.
“The padyatra has a significance in our country. It allows us to talk to the common person, to raise awareness,” Nagaraj says.
Starting at the Male Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagar in February, the plan was to cover a few districts in Karnataka along the way to Delhi. But overwhelmed by the response on the ground, he decided to chart a course for all 31 districts of Karnataka.
Over the course of his journey, Nagaraj says he used to interact with at least 100 - 150 people each day. Along the way, he depended on the kindness of like-minded individuals — farmers, progressive activists, local villagers — to provide him food and accomodation.
On the few occasions he couldn’t make arrangements, he paid for the food and accommodation out of his own pocket.
Speaking at Sabhas across Karnataka, Nagaraj says what most moved him was the sense resignation he saw in the average farmers. “So many of them requested me to call off my agitation. They had no hopes from the government at all,” he says.
Nagaraj was in Chitradurga when the second lockdown was announced. After a break, he resumed the walk in July.
Things were fine in Karnataka, and even in Maharashtra, where he was received by farmers’ organisations. In Madhya Pradesh, however, he says had to make most arrangements himself.
Then, on November 1, his mother back at his native in Bagalkot passed away. He returned home to perform the last rites and then resumed the padyatra again.
Nagaraj says that his son and daughter — in Class 7 and Class 2 respectively — did not understand why he was doing this padyatra.
“But then my son started watching these serials about Babasaheb Ambedkar and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” Nagaraj says.
After viewing one episode where Netaji sets out walking from Kolkata to New Delhi, his son told him that Netaji “has also set out walking like you.”
“I told him that it was the other way around. That I was following Netaji’s example,” Nagaraj says with a laugh.
When asked if he is satisfied now that the government has repealed the laws, Nagaraj says the core issue of the MSP is not fixed.
“That is something that we are fighting for. And besides, the government should not have taken so long to repeal the laws,” he says.
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