Sarath Fernando given  Nanjundarswamy award for lifetime achievements

by chaminda

The 75th Birth Anniversary of the Late Prof. M.D. Nanjundaswamy, the leader of KRRS ( Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sanga ) was commemorated on 13th February, 2011  in Bangalore at a gathering of around 5,000 farmers and farmer leaders organized by the Prof. Nanjundarswamy Foundation and the Green Brigade.

One of the activities was the granting of the M.D. Nanjundaswamy international award for Lifetime achievements to Bharathiya Kisan Union president Mahendra Singh Tikait and to Sarath Fernando the Moderator of Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform ( MONLAR ), Sri Lanka.  The awards were presented by the Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Prof. Najundaswamy was convinced that peasants, the poor landless people have a right to a life of dignity and did not compromise his struggle to establish this right and he was able to build KRRS as a movement with over a million members. His struggle was relentless against the global plunder of the earth, its resources and humankind. he believed non violent direct resistance as the path of struggle with which he fought the Seed TNCs, the WTO and for the right of small farmers to have control over the world's resources. He was the South Asian leader of Via Campasena through which he expanded his struggle and the dream to the rest of the world.

Rajya Raitha Sangha founder - President and Socialist leader Prof. M.D. Nanjundaswamy (69) passed away at Kidwai Memorial Hospital in Bangalore at around 6 am on 3rd February 2004. He was ailing from lung cancer. He leaves behind his wife, a son and a daughter.
A firebrand Lohiaite Prof. Swamy, popularly known as MDN, played a vital role in bringing the first ever non congress Government to power in Karnataka in 1983 when he mobilized the farmers to support the Janata Party. It was Prof. MDN and his friends who toured Karnataka extensively educating the farmers against the then Congress regime's anti farmer policies under late R. Gundu Rao. It was he who gave 'Green Towel' to farmers thus building the Green Brigade.

Prof. MDN, though a Socialist, had a good rapport with Mr. L. G. Havanur, who prepared a revolutionary report on backward classes, popularly known as "Havanur Report," during the regime of late Devaraj Urs who implemented it providing social justice to the neglected sections of the society. It was known in the Socialist circles that Prof. MDN, an authority on socio - economic issues, had contributed much in the data collection for the report. Incidentally, Mr. Havanur was teaching at Renukacharya Law College in Bangalore when Prof. MDN was its Principal.
A close associate of Socialist leaders like Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan and Shanthaveri Gopal Gowda, Prof. MDN was responsible for starting Samajawadi Yuvajana Sabha unit in Karnataka. Prof. MDN was one of the leaders who launched Navanirmana Kranti organisation of JP in Karnataka thus bringing the Total Revolution wave to the State. P. Lankesh, K. P. Poornachandra Tejaswi and other like minded leaders were his comrades in arm during those days.
Born in Mysore (a resident of Saraswathipuram then) to an illustrious father M. N. Mahanthadevaru, advocate, Prof. MDN did his B.Sc., BL in City. He had been a Rockfeller scholar in The Hague Academy of International Law and Doktorand scholar in West Germany. Prof. MDN, a close friend of the then West German Chancellor Mr. Willy Brandt, frequently visited the country as well as other countries, which adopted Socialist ideology.
A believer in 'power to the people,' Prof. MDN led the Raitha Sangha into the election politics and groomed many young leaders. He was elected to Karnataka Assembly in 1990 from Dharwad rural constituency. Prof. MDN was known for his short temper and never compromised on values. A strict disciplinarian, he dumped many leaders and friends when they did not toe his line. This attitude gave him an image of a dictator. This forced many leaders to desert him to join other parties.
Mr. K. S. Puttanaiah was one such leader in Karnataka who broke away to lead a faction of the Raitha Sangha. Prof. MDN parted his way with many of his close friends and also broke his ties with the Janata Government as he was disillusioned over the manner in which late Ramakrishna Hegde was running the Government. Prof. MDN became the bitter critic of the same Government, which was supported by him earlier during the elections.
Prof. MDN had been campaigning against introduction of genetically modified crops in the country and also worked for the cause of saving some of the native crops. Prof. MDN was the younger brother of former Deputy Mayor Mrs. Leela Chennaiah.

The declaration that was made with the award to Sarath Fernando stated the following.

Thudugala Mudalige Justin Sarath Fernando 

Mr. T.M.J.Sarath Fernando got involved in the social movements as a young university student fighting in the student uprising of Sri Lanka in 1971. The youth of Sri Lanka had launched a revolt in order to take over state power and bring about a just society. As a result Sarath spent 5 years in jail and did not complete his university degree in civil engineering. Upon release from jail he dedicated his life to full time political work with the old peasants' movement called the All Lanka Peasants Congress as he believed that peasants were a key constituency to bring about social change in Sri Lanka.

Sarath's carrier path reflects a life committed to marginalized sections of society and ecology. In 1978 he became the research hand of SEDEC ( Social and Economic Development Centre) followed by eleven year stretch at the Devasarana Development Centre after which he founded the MONLAR ( Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform ) where he currently works. MONLAR was founded as a training institute for farmers as well as to conduct greater analysis and deeper studies for peasants in Sri Lanka and South Asia.

Sarath now has 40 years of experience as an activist in the peasant movement. He visualizes a better society and a dignified life for all human beings if we develop harmony with nature. He strongly believes that peasants need to take the path of ecological agriculture which will not only regenerate the capacity of Mother Nature but also the capacity of human beings to live better and to develop equal relationships with each other. With this vision he urges the peasants of the world to continue their struggle for land and feed humanity as they have a fundamental and moral right to do so.