Karnataka observes 12-hour statewide bandh by pro-Kannada groups
A 12-hour statewide bandh called by the pro-Kannada groups, to protest the alleged assault on a state-run bus conductor in Belagavi last month for not knowing Marathi, began in Karnataka on Saturday morning amid tight security.
In several parts of the state, the pro-kannada groups took to the streets staging protests and appealed to the shopkeepers to cooperate and extend their support for the cause. But most of the shops were open as usual.
In Bengaluru, the activists gathered at the Mysore Bank circle and raised slogans holding placards.
Some activists staged a demonstration at the BMTC and KSRTC bus stand at Majestic in the state capital.
The protesters appealed to the bus drivers and conductors to support the call for Bandh. As their agitation intensified, police took them under preventive custody.
In Mysuru, some pro-Kannada activists staged a sit-in protest by blocking buses at the suburban bus stand.
They staged a dharna near the exit gate to block buses heading to Bengaluru and other parts of the state.
Some members of pro-Kannada groups were taken into preventive custody after they attempted to stop a KSRTC bus in Mysuru.
In Davangere too, the protesters took to the streets.
Sources in Belagavi said the KSRTC buses were plying as usual but there was restricted movement of buses from Maharashtra to this border town in north Karnataka, which was at the centre of the linguistic row.
Besides the attack on a bus conductor at Balekundri, Panchayat officials were abused recently in Kinaye village in Belagavi for not speaking in Marathi.
Belagavi, just at the border of Maharashtra, has a substantial Marathi population where the border row flares up from time to time.
The accused in both the cases were taken into custody.
