Broom-wielding women farmers foil land survey as resistance to Bangalore expansion intensifies 

Locking horns with the police, farmers in southern India resisting a land acquisition to expand Bangalore city foiled the Karnataka state government’s attempt to survey the land last week.

Whacking the survey officers with brooms, women farmers chased them back into their cars, which retreated – some mud-caked, some with shattered windscreens. Police have filed serious charges, including attempted murder.

The altercation occurred on July 13, the 490th day of protest against the state government’s notification to acquire over 9,600 acres of fertile, multi-cropped land sustaining 20,000 people from 4,000 families across 26 villages.

The government issued a preliminary notification in March 2025 to acquire this land, about 40 km from Bangalore, to build the Bidadi township, touted as India’s first AI-powered city, meant to decongest the state capital. Protesting ever since the notification, farmers have won the solidarity of agrarian communities across the state.

Peasant leaders from Bangalore’s neighboring towns and cities, including Mysore, Mandya, and Tumkur, had arrived on the day of this clash at the Byramangala roundabout, where the local farmers had been on a day-and-night sit-in protest for about a year.