Members of Panchamasali community protest in parts of Belagavi, block national highway for half an hour

Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjay Swami, head of the Panchamasali peetha and honourary president of the reservation agitation committee, alleged that the CM had ordered the lathi charge to insult the community and reduce their morale.

Panchamasali reservation committee and other community organisations held protest rallies in some places in Belagavi district condemning the police lathi charge against the committee members in Belagavi on Tuesday.

Activists stopped vehicles on the Pune-Bengaluru national highway near the toll gate at Hire Bagewadi for about 30 minutes, by sitting on the road. They raised slogans against the Congress government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjay Swami, head of the Panchamasali peetha and honourary president of the committee, alleged that the CM had ordered the lathi charge only to insult the community and reduce their morale. “Initially, I had though the CM was in Bengaluru. But I came to know that when the lathi charge was going on, Mr. Siddaramaiah was in Belagavi only. He has given instructions to the police to assault us mercilessly. He should be ashamed of himself and seek our apology,” he said.

“Does the government think that we will be demoralised and backtrack from our agitation? No. We will not do that. We are children of Rani Channamma. We will fight back. We will ensure that our demands are fulfilled. If this government cannot fulfil our demands, then we will vote it out and bring back a government that listens to us and fulfils our demands in the next elections,” the seer said.

“If I give a call today, 25lakh to 50 lakh Panchamasalis will gather before the Suvarna Soudha tomorrow. But we do not want to do that. We want to respect the law of the land and hold peaceful protests. This government declared Basavanna as a cultural leader. But they ended up attacking his followers. Mr. Siddaramaiah is behaving like a dictator,’‘ the seer said. He demanded that if the State government could not provide 2A reservation to the Panchamasali community, then it should at least extend the 2D reservation, that was given by the BJP government, for the time being.

He demanded that the CM seek an unconditional public apology for the lathi charge, suspension of all police officers who were involved in the incident and withdrawal of cases against protestors.

Protestors dispersed by police

Deputy Commissioner of Police Rohan Jagadeesh urged the seer to end the protest as hundreds of vehicles were stuck for several kilometres. He said that four ambulances, including one carrying an organ donated by a family, were also stuck in the traffic jam. After the police managed to convince the crowd, the protestors relented and dispersed. The police then cleared the traffic jam in a few minutes.

A protest rally was also held in Bailhongal against the lathi charge. Vishwanath Patil, community leader and former MLA, led the rally. They demanded that all the cases against protestors be dropped and action be initiated against the police who were involved in the lathi charge. A protest rally was organised in Hattaragi village, too.

Published - December 12, 2024 05:18 pm IST