Banjaras dump BJP flags in protest

NT Correspondent

Bagalkote: Protesters belonging to the Banjara community (Lambanis) continued their demonstration on Tuesday by taking off and throwing BJP flags on the ground in Muchakhandi thanda in Bagalkot taluk.

They have been protesting against the proposed implementation of the Sadashiva Commission report, which would give Scheduled Castes (SCs) proportionate inter nal reservation within the quota allocated to them. Some groups that come under the SC list in Karnataka but haven’t experienced untouchability are Bhovis, Lambanis, Korachas and Koramas. They fear that they’ll be left out of the SC list if it is recalibrated, so to speak.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has assured these communities that they’ll be retained in the state SC list. The protesters took off flags from buildings and electricity poles and then shouted slogans against the BJP and demanded that the party’s MLAs discuss the issue of internal reservation.

The demonstrators also played a video “tribute” to present BJP MP and MLAs from the Banjara community, mocking them as dead because they hadn’t reacted to the community’s demands and had been missing in action. A video of the tribute has gone viral.