Tree for tree: Farmer axes sandalwood at Bengaluru’s legislators’ home to protest land acquisition

BENGALURU: Angered over the acquisition of his sandalwood farm for a highway project, a farmer travelled over 250 kilometres to Bengaluru and resorted to a dramatic act of defiance: he chopped down a sandalwood tree inside the Legislators' Home, which falls within a special security zone.

The farmer, TN Vishnukumar, who is also the president of Srigandha Rakshana Vedike, left both police personnel and onlookers stunned. "This is the first time we have encountered such a situation. He resorted to this dramatic act to draw the authorities' attention to the problems he faced back home in Tarikere, Chikkamagaluru district," a police officer said.


Police officials at Vidhana Soudha said the protest followed the felling of sandalwood trees at Vishukumar's farm under police protection Monday. "Officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the forest department cleared sandalwood trees to facilitate highway work under police protection," an officer said.

Angered by what he termed official apathy, Vishukumar put up banners and posters declaring the "obituary of sandalwood farmers in Karnataka" before arriving at Vidhana Soudha. He later axed a tree planted near the Devaraj Urs Gate of the Legislators' Home.

"We detained Vishukumar and registered an FIR against him under various provisions of the Forest Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for causing mischief," an official said.

Vishukumar said NHAI acquired 3.3 acres of his land at Haliyur village to build a bypass on NH-69 and identified 22 sandalwood trees for felling. He alleged that the compensation offered was unscientific and did not reflect the value of land used for sandalwood cultivation. "Though the matter is still pending before the court, officials unilaterally entered the farm and axed the trees," he claimed.

This is not the first time Vishukumar resorted to an extreme form of protest. In June 2025, he climbed a high-tension power transmission tower as part of his agitation against land acquisition.