Karnataka Bandh Peaceful

BENGALURU: Bengaluru police on Thursday took to their custody pro-Kannada leader Vatal Nagaraj, as a precautionary measure, over his call to observe ‘Karnataka bandh’ from 6 am to 6 pm over the direction from Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) asking Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu for 15-days.

Previously, CWRC recommended to Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs from July 29 to Tamil Nadu and the recommendation of CWRC was upheld by Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) while Karnataka was facing severe water shortage owing to deficit monsoon this season.

However, the bandh evoked poor response from the people/associations/ business establishments while schools, colleges and offices functioned as usual. Hotels remained open. Government buses operated as usual while police tightened the security and deployed adequate security personnel to thwart any untoward incidents. Mysuru and Mandya observed bandh with lukewarm response.

Despite an appeal by the Chief Minister to pro-Kannada associations, Vatal Nagaraj announced Karnataka bandh while many prominent pro-Kannada organisations particularly Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Narayan Gowda faction) among many others withdrew their support to the bandh.

Police descended at the residence of Vatal Nagaraj in Bengaluru and appealed to him not to go ahead with the bandh call. But, Nagaraj declined to obey the police and made it clear to them to observe the call and remained firm on his decision to observe bandh and join protesters.

He sat in protest at the entrance of his residence gaging his mouth with adhesive tape (to accuse the State Government over suppressing his voice). Police team led by DCP Nyamegouda waited for some time for Vatal Nagaraj to cooperate with them. Later, police swung into action and took him to their custody. Earlier, Nagaraj’s supporters Narayan among others were taken to police custody.

In Vidhana Soudha, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar thanked pro-Kannada organisations for withdrawing their support for Karnataka bandh. The Chief Minister said pro-Kannada organisations have put forth certain demands before the State Government in the interest of farmers and people and the demands will be looked into.