An enormous protest and stone-throwing incident from the Banjara community were reported outside the home of senior BJP leaders and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa, in Shimoga.
They were demanding the withdrawal of the state government’s recent decision on reservation for scheduled castes.
A huge number of police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order.
The Karnataka cabinet last week took a decision to introduce internal reservation among the scheduled castes in education and jobs. The state government recently increased the reservation for the scheduled castes from 15 percent to 17 percent.
However, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai categorically made it clear that 6 percent of the reservation would be allocated to scheduled castes (left), 5.5 percent to SCs (right), 4.5 percent to touchable, and one percent has been given to others.
Karnataka government took this decision on the basis of a report submitted by the AJ Sadashiva Commission, which was formed in 2005.
The Banjara community has been repeatedly saying that they would be in a disadvantageous position due to the state government’s decision on reservations.
Muslim leaders have criticised the BJP government as well. Currently, the Muslims’ condition in the education sector is lower than that of the SC and ST.
The aim behind the move by the BJP government in Karnataka in the state is to entice voters from the two influential communities in the upcoming state assembly polls. A tough battle is on the cards for the ruling party as several corruption cases are floating against the saffron party.