Bengaluru: Displaced Fakir Colony residents mark ‘Poor People’s Republic Day’

Bengaluru: The 'Poor People’s Republic Day' was celebrated at Fakir Colony in northern Bengaluru on Monday.

The locality in Kogilu Layout shot to prominence earlier this month after authorities demolished scores of homes, claiming they were built on encroached land.

The event was organised by Dudiya Janara Vedike, AITUC, CITU, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Gamana Mahila Samooha, Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane, Karnataka Janashakti, Movement for Gender and Sexual Pluralism (MGSP), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Slum Janara Sanghatane, Slum Mahila Sanghatane, Karnataka State Garments and Textile Workers’ Union, Slum Jagattu, and other progressive organisations and activists.

Khadar B, a resident of Fakir Colony, and Jyothi from NFIW hoisted the national flag. The national anthem was sung, and everyone present at the programme read the Preamble to the Constitution. The programme included the singing of five patriotic songs and speeches.

"The government celebrates Republic Day at the Vidhana Soudha, but does not allow the poor inside. What we are celebrating here is the Poor People’s Republic Day. This is our right. We have only one demand — housing must be provided to us," Jyothi said.

Hanumantharao Havaldar of CITU said: "A government that gives one acre of land to Adani for one rupee is not even giving a small piece of land to us who were born and brought up here."

The programme concluded with a message raising awareness about people’s rights, constitutional values and the right to housing.