Karnataka: Demand for release of arrested activists, protest by pro-Kannada activists

Bengaluru: Pro-Kannada activists protested at Freedom Park in Bengaluru demanding the immediate release of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists detained by the police. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers also participated in the protest. They demanded the immediate release of KRV state president TA Narayana Gowda. Earlier in the day, some protesters were released by the Bengaluru Police and were given a grand welcome by the group.

AAP leader Chief Minister Chandru claimed that the pro-Kannada fighters did nothing wrong and only did what the government should have done in the first place. “What wrong did the pro-Kannada fighters do? Robbed or murdered? Boards with shop names in English and Hindi have been removed. Our pro-Kannada fighters have done what the government should have done…If the pro-Kannada fighters are not released, Chief Minister Chandru said, we will teach the government a lesson in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Bengaluru Police on Wednesday detained KRV members who had staged a protest in Bengaluru demanding that all businesses and enterprises in Karnataka put up boards in Kannada on their shops and commercial establishments in keeping with the state’s obligation to 60 percent of them were in Kannada. , Public awareness protest was carried out under the leadership of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike state president TA Narayana Gowda. It has also come to light that KRV workers also vandalized those shops which had signboards in English letters.

Members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike also broke flower pots, vandalized signboards in English and splashed black ink on them outside the Mall of Asia in Bengaluru, officials had earlier said. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar said on Thursday that in a democracy, everyone has the right to protest, but taking the law into one’s own hands cannot be tolerated, following the rampage by pro-Kannada protesters in Bengaluru. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Shivakumar said, “In a democracy, everyone has the right to protest.

We cannot tolerate anyone taking the law into their own hands. I am upset that they (pro-Kannada protesters) vandalized boards and establishments etc.” , Shivakumar also said that all shops should follow the recent order of BBMP, where the civic body had directed shops to give preference to Kannada on signage boards.