We didn`t start the fire
What led to the formation of KER?
Kodagu is divided both politically and according to caste and politicians exploit this. We are the smallest district, yet our contribution to Karnataka's kitty is the highest. When Kodagu was merged with Karnataka in 1956, development stopped.
Politically, the scene is dismal. The Kodagu member of parliament comes from Mangalore and we see him only once in five years. The district's MLAs are always fighting among themselves. Many things, like setting land records straight, have not yet been done. For everything, we have to go Mangalore. The Cauvery waters flow from Kodagu, but to get permission to use it we have to go to Mangalore and bribe people there. It takes two years to get the permission. They've built big reservoirs like the Harangi to supply water to the rest of the state and Tamil Nadu, but the small check dams, hospitals, roads and schools we need haven't been built.
We are mostly coffee growers. The state has a monopoly in buying coffee -- while consumers pay Rs 70 per kg in the market, growers get only Rs 16 per kg. KER was formed to fight for our rights, including that to maintain our environment and prevent it from being exploited by outsiders.
Why are you against political parties?
We are not attached to any party. Neither are we against them. It is the politicians and bureaucrats who oppose us because we expose them.
But aren't your arguments separatist? Why are you called a militant outfit? Look, the fact is we are exploited. But does pointing this out and fighting it make us separatists? We aren't asking for a separate state -- though it is tempting. We want things to change within Karnataka itself.
Today, any community that fights for its rights is branded militant. There is nothing new in that.
Kodagu can easily become another Bodoland or Punjab, but it will be of no use unless our society changes because many of our exploiters are from Kodagu itself. We decided to fight within the structure -- and through the courts.
But what can be done through legal processes?
We have already taken up the Nilambur Co case. Another issue we will take up is the campaign to alter the 999-year plantation leases given by the British. Such leases have been reduced to 99 years in other districts, but not in Kodagu. This allows many planters from outside to damage the ecology in the name of development.
Was KER involved in the Nagarahole fire?
We didn't start the fire and we condemn the destruction. The fire was attributed to us by unscrupulous politicians and a section of the press.
Conflicts between forest officials and people who live near national parks are inevitable. It is also true that some of the demonstrators who went on the rampage there were affiliated to KER, but that does not mean KER set it on fire.
The official accounts also are questionable. They show that about 200 demonstrators entered the park at 12.30 pm on March 14, 1992 and left by 1.30 pm. Yet, later it is claimed 84,000 ha of forest were burnt over four days. Is that possible?
What sacrifices have you made for KER?
Well, its not for KER, but for the cause and out interest. There is continuous, petty harassment, like raids and so on against us. I closed my restaurant because I couldn't devote time to it. My family, except my wife and children, has dissociated itself from me, but these things happened to many of our associates.