Mohandas Pai slams KRV’s IT company visits; Narayana Gowda calls him ‘Shakuni’

The campaign demanding fair employment opportunities for Kannadigas in Karnataka’s IT sector has triggered a war of words between the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital.

On November 2, Pai criticised KRV representatives for visiting IT companies and seeking details about their employees. He said the government should not allow “vigilante groups” to run the state. Tagging Home Minister G Parameshwara and Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Pai wrote on X: “This must stop.”

Reacting to Pai’s remarks, KRV president T A Narayana Gowda called him a “Shakuni”, referring to the character from the Mahabharata.

“There is a person in the IT sector, an eccentric named Mohandas Pai, who keeps coming out from time to time and provoking and irritating Kannadigas. Whenever I see Mohandas Pai, I feel that he is playing the role of Shakuni from the Mahabharata in the present Kaliyuga,” Gowda said.

He alleged that Pai was destroying the future of Kannadigas and issued a warning. “I am warning Shakuni, Mohandas Pai, that if Kannadigas decide to destroy the Shakuni clan, it will take them just one minute,” he said.

Gowda also announced that the KRV would continue its statewide campaign to assess employment opportunities for Kannadigas in private companies until November 30. The organisation plans to submit a comprehensive report to the state government and seek time-bound action on implementing job reservations.

He said KRV teams had visited around 100 IT companies on Monday and another 112 on Tuesday, submitting representations to their human resources departments seeking details of the employment provided to Kannadigas at different levels.

Gowda maintained that the campaign, called the ‘Agraha Abhiyana’, was being conducted peacefully and without any attempt to provoke confrontation. He said the organisation would not withdraw from the exercise despite pressure from the government or the police.

After collecting the information, the KRV would submit a report to the Chief Minister and give the government a deadline to take the issue of employment reservations to the Cabinet and initiate steps towards implementation, he said. A delegation would also seek an appointment with Shivakumar to press for time-bound action.

“Under no circumstances will we withdraw from this struggle, regardless of pressure from any government or the police department. This concerns the livelihood and future of the children of this land,” Gowda said.

In a post on X, Pai asked Shivakumar to assert the government’s authority. “CM of Karnataka avare. You are our CM. Please decide if you are ruling our state or these vigilantes are running the state,” he wrote.

The exchange comes after Shivakumar appealed to Kannada organisations not to target IT companies or take the law into their own hands, while assuring them that the government would address their concerns.

On Monday, Gowda had said the Agraha Abhiyana was a campaign and not a protest or an exercise in moral policing. He had asserted that companies operating in Karnataka should provide the lion’s share of employment opportunities to Kannadigas.