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Banjara community members protest near Yediyurappa’s house over reservation issue
The Banjara community, a subgroup of Scheduled Castes, is apprehensive about its share of reservation under the new system going down
Bengaluru: Members of the Banjara community on Monday pelted stones at former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s residence at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, demanding withdrawal of the internal reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) announced by the state government.
The community, a subgroup of Scheduled Castes, is apprehensive about its share of reservation under the new system going down. Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, however, claimed that the reservation for Banjaras will increase under the new system as he accused the opposition Congress of instigating the community.
Hundreds of agitating members of the Banjara community clashed with police personnel deployed at Yediyurappa’s house. They hurled stones at the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s residence, damaging window glasses, even as the police used batons to disperse the protesters, who included women.
Several police personnel and members of the community were also reportedly injured due to stone pelting. The protesters also set ablaze posters of Yediyurappa and Bommai.
“Today (Monday) morning, over 1,000 people arrived at the tahsildar’s office to submit a memorandum. We had set up barricades and deployed police personnel. The protesters jumped over the barricades which resulted in violence,” said superintendent of police (SP), Shivamogga, GK Mithun Kumar. “Four police personnel were also injured and they are being treated at a hospital.”
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been imposed in Shikaripur town limits to prevent untoward incidents, said the SP, who visited the town to take stock of the situation.
“Additional police force has been deployed and the situation is under control,” he added.
On Friday, the state government recommended to the Centre a new breakup of the reservation for SCs in education and jobs in the southern state, where assembly elections are due by May.
Of the 17% reservation for SCs, the state cabinet has recommended a 6% internal quota for SC (left) sub-category, 5.5% for SC (right), 4.5% for “touchables” and 1% for others.
Dalits constitute about 20% of the state population and are broadly divided into two groups — Dalit left and Dalit right. The Dalit left, who are about 70% of the SC population, are considered more deprived than the Dalit right. All sub-categories can be divided into these two groups. Experts said the divisions are on the basis of a belief that, in the 17th century, those who worked in farms now constitute Dalit left and those who were administrators are now Dalit right. All 101 caste groups, who were considered original inhabitants of Karnataka and faced oppression from invaders, were given SC reservation post-Independence.
The state government also wrote to the Centre recommending that the proposal be included in the ninth schedule of the Constitution, to give it immunity from judicial review.
The Banjara community has opposed the cabinet’s decision to introduce internal reservation amongst the SCs, alleging that “less” reservation was given to the touchables sub-category, to which the Banjaras belong.
“We are disappointed that we will get only 4.5% reservation. Yediyurappa has appealed to not arrest anyone, but we are at the police station now. We wanted to submit a memorandum to the tahsildar in a peaceful manner, but the police did not let us in. They also lathi-charged some members of community, which led to stone pelting,” said Raghavendra Naik, a Banjara community leader.
“Our fight does not end here. There are about 45,000 voters from the Banjara community in Shikaripura constituency. We will make sure we give a befitting reply in the elections if justice is not given to us,” Naik added.
Reacting to the incident, chief minister Bommai blamed local Congress leaders for instigating people. “The Congress is unable to digest the social justice done to every community and is resorting to inciting violence,” Bommai told reporters, urging the Banjara community “to not fall for any hearsay”.
Yediyurappa, who is a member of the BJP’s top Parliamentary board, said the incident occurred due to the misunderstanding.
“I will speak with leaders of the Banjara community. I have been working for the development of Shikaripura for the last 50 years. There is some miscommunication among the protesters,” he told reporters. “I have asked the SP and DC not to take any stringent action. I will speak with the leaders of the Banjara community in a day or two.”
The Banjara community has urged the BJP-led state government to drop the Justice AJ Sadashiva Commission report, which recommended a proportional representation to sub-categories among SCs, terming it is “unscientific”.
Bommai, however, said the internal reservation was done as per the recommendations of the cabinet sub-committee and not the AJ Sadashiva Commission. “The Banjara community has apprehension that it would be removed from the SC category. But there is no need to worry about it. Instead of 3% reservation for the Banjara community, we have given 4.5% reservation,” the CM said. “I would like to tell the Banjara leaders that we have protected the interest of the community.”
Bommai said Yediyurappa had constituted the Tanda (Lamani hamlet) Development Corporation and provided all the facilities to the Tandas in Shivamogga district. “There should not be any room for violence. If there is any issue, then it can be resolved by sitting across the table,” he said.
Sharply criticising the Congress, the CM said it was highly condemnable to “create unrest in the society for political gain”.
Political analyst Chambi Puranik said the ongoing protests will not have any major impact on the upcoming assembly polls. “Those who don’t have clarity jump to conclusions and resort to such protests. But it not a serious development and won’t have a big impact on the upcoming elections.”
Congress leaders were not available for comment.
