Karnataka bandh evokes mixed response
Essential services remained unaffected while shops and business establishments functioned normally and so did schools and colleges.
BENGALURU: The Karnataka bandh called by various pro-Kannada outfits demanding a quota for Kannadigas in government and private sector jobs, evoked a mixed response across the state on Thursday.
Essential services remained unaffected while shops and business establishments functioned normally and so did schools and colleges. The protesters alleged that the ruling BJP had joined hands with the business class and capitalists to make the bandh a failure.
They also charged that the ruling BJP resorted to police brutality to quell the bandh in the state capital. All leaders who were capable of mobilising crowds were taken into preventive custody, explained Jayaraj Naidu, President of Namma Karnataka Rakshana Vedike. He said Karnataka should learn from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where the governments had protected the interests of locals against capitalists.
“We are protesting since the last 102 days demanding a quota for locals in jobs. Our protest will continue. We will hold a meeting and decide on staging a hunger strike until our demands are met,” he added.