Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday stated that the arrests of six pro-Kannada activists was done in adherence with the law. Yediyurappa’s statement came soon after several members of the Karnataka Ranadheera Pade, a pro-Kannada outfit, protested at Bengaluru’s Town Hall, alleging that the police had registered false cases against six of their members.
“Our government is committed to safeguarding the interests of every Kannadiga. Action was taken against those who created a ruckus and the actions were taken as per the law. It has nothing to do with them being Kannada activists. I am pro-farmer as much as I am pro-Kannada,” BS Yediyurappa said.
#kannada pic.twitter.com/QOOHs79tEN
— Karnataka Varthe (@KarnatakaVarthe) August 19, 2019
Six activists belonging to various pro-Kannada outfits were arrested by the Commercial Street police on Sunday. The activists protested outside Ganesh Bagh, a prayer hall belonging to the Jain community located near Infantry Road in Bengaluru on Friday, against a hoarding not including Kannada language.
“The pro-Kannada activists, who protested outside the Jain prayer hall, only did so because the hoardings did not include Kannada. We had no intention of making it about religion. We are all Kannadigas from various faiths,” said KRP secretary Ramanand Ankola. Slamming BJP MP Tejasvi Surya who had tweeted about the issue, he added, “Tejasvi Surya called us goons too. So, we demanded an apology,”
Activists said that the protest was held as the messages printed on the hoardings did not include Kannada and were written only in Hindi. “We had informed the people who had put up the hoardings that they must include Kannada. Despite this, they did not change the hoardings so we tore it and brought it down. Why did the police register a case under 153A (promoting enmity on the basis of religion)? We did no such thing,” Ramanand Ankola said.
A video of the six pro-Kannada activists protesting outside Ganesh bagh went viral on Saturday after the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike uploaded it on Facebook. Soon after the video went viral, a member of All India Jain Federation, Trilok Chand, filed a complaint with the Commercial Street Police station alleging that the pro-Kannada activists were trying to provoke enmity on religious and linguistic grounds.
The Commercial Street police registered an FIR against six persons under sections 153A (promoting enmity on the basis of religion and language), 427 (property damage), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
On Sunday, the Commercial Street Police arrested Ramesh Gowda T, Daapi Anjanappa, Harish Kumar B, Manjunath M, Chandrasekhar and Madesh Gowda S. The six accused were remanded to 14-day judicial custody. However, after the protests at Town Hall on Monday, they were released on bail.