Panchamasalis stopped from storming Suvarna Soudha during quota protest

Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjay Swami who is leading the protest for re-categorisation of Panchamasali Lingayat community being taken away from the protest site in Belagavi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Badiger

The police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse members of the Panchamasali Reservation Agitation Committee who tried to storm the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Tuesday.

The police stopped several groups led by community leaders Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjay Swami, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Iranna Kadadi and Arvind Bellad that tried to forcefully enter the Suvarna Soudha.

The police pushed them away successfully and cleared the protest site. The leaders were taken into custody and the seer was taken away from the site. All the leaders were released later.

The protest led to a traffic jam on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway for over an hour.

Activists tried to break the police barricade and threw stones at the police and government vehicles. Some also tried to climb the fence and enter the premises from the sides and the rear.

A view of the protest site in Belagavi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Committee leaders said that 20 protestors were injured in the lathi-charge. However, the police said that only one protestor was injured in the lathi-charge.

The committee members organised a rally in Kondaskoppa village off the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway near the Suvarna Soudha.

Leaders, including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Arvind Bellad and C.C. Patil, and Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar addressed the protestors.

The seer announced that the protest will continue till the State government fulfilled their demand for re-categorisation of the community into Other Backward Classes 2A group from 3B.

BJP leaders Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Arvind Bellad leading the protestors as they try to barge into the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Activists were upset that the Chief Minister did not come to the protest site. They started shouting slogans against the State government and Siddaramaiah. The mob got agitated after the seer gave a call for storming the Suvarna Soudha as part of a Sangharsha Yatre.

“We have to storm the Suvarna Soudha now. The State government has not respected our peaceful agitation,” he said and tried to force his way to the main gate.

A team led by BJP leaders, including State unit president B.Y. Vijayendra, and MLAs Shailendra Beldale and Sharanu Salagar, also visited the protest site. But they left after some members of the audience asked them to leave as they did not support Mr. Yatnal during his initial protest rallies.

Later, a team of Ministers, led by Lakshmi Hebbalkar and H.C. Mahadevappa, M.C. Sudhakar and Additional Director-General of Police R. Hitendra, met the seer and asked him to attend a meeting convened by the Chief Minister.

They said that Ministers, officers and legal experts will be present during the meeting.

Police resorting to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd that tried to force itself into the Suvarna Soudha during the Panchamasali protest in Belagavi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
P.K. Badiger

But the seer declined to attend it. He demanded that the Chief Minister come to the rally, address the protestors and give a concrete assurance that their demand will be fulfilled.

Ms. Hebbalkar repeatedly urged the seer and other leaders of the committee to come inside the Suvarna Soudha for a meeting. But they did not agree. The Ministers then left the stage.

Ms. Hebbalkar later told reporters that she has always been with the Panchamasali community and that she supported the demand for re-categorisation.

“I have attended rallies when I was in the Opposition and now, when I am part of the State government. I am always willing to arrange another meeting of community leaders with the Chief Minister and Ministers concerned,” she said.

The Chief Minister told reporters later that he invited the committee leaders for a meeting, but they did not accept it. “We are not opposed to any agitation, as everyone has a right to protest. Now, we are all going to Bengaluru to attend the final rites for the former Chief Minister late S.M. Krishna. We will be back here on Thursday,” he said.