The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) conducted 518 route marches across Karnataka on the occasion of its centenary, with Bengaluru and Bagalkot seeing over 20,000 swayamsevaks and six other districts with participation upwards of 10,000 people.
This data was provided by Home Minister G Parameshwara in the Legislative Assembly on December 9 in response to an unstarred question by Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar and said that no violence had been reported.
BJP MLA Sunil Kumar had sought data on the number of route marches in the state and the number of swayamsevaks who took part, and whether or not any violence had occurred when they were taken out.
The data was analysed using the lower limit of the figures based on 31 administrative districts, rather than the 37 police jurisdictions. These police jurisdictions include commissionerates that have been carved out for major cities within six existing districts, as well as KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) in the Kolar district.
Bengaluru city and district had a total of 110 marches in which between 27,000-30,000 RSS workers participated. This was the highest in the state, followed by Bagalkot district where over 20,000 RSS workers participated in 33 marches; and Dharwad which also saw close to 20,000 people turn up for 11 marches.
Other districts which had high participation include Shivamogga, Vijayapura, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, and Belagavi districts in which participants ranged between 11,000 and 13,000. Of these, Uttara Kannada district saw the highest number of marches at 45 while Dakshina Kannada had the lowest number at 16.
Kalaburagi district, which was at the centre of controversy in October-November, saw 55 marches but with around 8,800 people. Other districts where participation ranged between 5,000 and 8,000 included Bidar, Kolar, Tumakuru, Koppal, Raichur and Belagavi.
The rest of the districts in the state had participation of under 5,000 people. These included Udupi, Chikkamaglur, Ballari, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Gadag, Yadgir, Hassan, Vijayanagara, Haveri, Bengaluru South (formerly Ramanagara), Mysuru, Mandya, Kodagu, Chikkaballapura and Chamarajanagara districts.
The lowest number of marches—just two—were in Kodagu district. Other districts where the number of marches were in the single-digits included Kolar, Bengaluru South, Chikkaballapura, Chamarajanagara, Hassan, Mandya, Davangere, Haveri, Gadag, Ballari, Koppal, Mysuru and Vijayanagara.
The RSS organises route marches routinely but they became a controversy this year after Chittapur MLA and Minister Priyank Kharge wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on the saffron outfit using government premises for its activities.
Soon, the matter snowballed into a controversy, with not just the Minister, but his family too, receiving threats. Dalit and progressive groups then objected to the RSS holding a route march in Chittapur, citing the tense atmosphere. The RSS eventually went to court which directed the district administration to come up with a solution. The RSS held a route march on November 16.
