Freedom Park inadequate for large rallies: Buddhist monks

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Protests, rallies and dharnas are a way to raise awareness, draw attention and send messages not only to society, but to the government as well. But it also gives rise to various problems, especially if they are held in thickly populated urban centres.

Buddhist monks and students from Maha Bodhi Society held a silent protest on Saturday urging the Karnataka gover nment to reserve a place other than Freedom Park for the rallies involving large gatherings.

“Freedom Park is mainly surrounded either by educational institutions or research centres which suffers greatly whenever any large protest or rally is held here,” Ven. Ananda Bhikku, General Secretary, Maha Bodhi Society said on Sunday. “Blocking major roundabouts is not justified at all because it causes huge inconvenience to the public, halts the traffic flow and leads to pollution,” he added.

The residents of Gandhi Nagar told News Trail that a recent protest included at least 5,000 women and most of them slept on the footpaths during the night. Sources also disclosed that the nearby public toilets were locked adding to their misery.

Bengaluru has seen an increase in the number of protests and rallies near Freedom Park in recent years giving a tough time to nearby residents, commuters and police officials. “The Freedom Park ground has the capacity to hold a crowd of 300-500 people. If the number of protesters exceeds, they gather on the road and vehicle movement gets affected,” a resident of Gandhi Nagar said.

The Maha Bodhi Society appealed that the administration should earmark places for people to protest like the palace grounds in the city for mass gatherings. “Peaceful protests and dharnas against the excesses is the right of people in democracy, but the rights of other people too should be respected. No one should be allowed to block traffic,” Ananda said.