Neighbourhood-level protests continue, some schools close
A massive rally taken out by pro-Kannada activists was largely successful in imposing a lockdown on Friday in the central business district of the city over the Cauvery issue.
The agitation was spearheaded by the T.A. Narayana Gowda faction of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike with support from the Vokkaligara Sangha and several seers from the Vokkaliga community.
Flagged off at the National College Grounds by the seer of the Adichunchanagiri Math, hundreds of vehicles, sporting the Kannada flag, accompanied by drumbeats and music, wound their way through J.C. Road, Hudson Circle and Mysore Bank Circle before culminating at Freedom Park.
Deserted look
The rally had an immediate impact on the otherwise crowded parts of the city such as J.C. Road, Chickpet-Balepet, B.V.K. Iyengar Road, Gandhinagar, V.V. Puram and Kalasipalya, which wore a deserted look. In fact, after the rush-hour traffic subsided, the main roads of the city too looked empty as motorists chose to stay away. The trend of autonomous, street and neighbourhood-level protests against sharing Cauvery waters with Tamil Nadu continued on Friday with an even larger number of such agitations reported from across the city.
As the KRV rally passed through J.C. Road, Hudson Circle, Mysore Bank Circle, Seshadri Road, motorbike-borne activists of the outfit darted into the neighbouring alleys and demanded that shop owners down shutters. While most of them waved Kannada flags as a warning to dissenting shop owners, some even wielded staves.
Mixed reactions
Vishal Makhija, the owner of a photo studio on Avenue Road, said the agitators were courteous and requested that he show solidarity with the Cauvery cause by shutting shop. However, Nagaraj Reddy, who owns a snack shop right opposite the photo studio, was furious. “Some men came on bikes and asked me to close down. When they realised that my Kannada is not very good, they began abusing me and threatened me.”
Police sources said about 60 pro-Kannada activists were detained in Bangalore north and west for forcibly closing shops in Sanjaynagar, Hebbal, Mysore Road, Vijayanagar pipeline area and other localities in the morning.
Some schools close
Barring some schools, most educational institutions in Bangalore functioned on Friday. Schools close to the route of the protest, such as Saraswati Vidya Mandir and the State syllabus branch of Kumarans, were shut.
Earlier, addressing the rally at the National College Grounds, actor-turned-politician M.H. Ambareesh criticised the Central government for its “insensitivity” towards the farmers of the Cauvery basin in the State. However, he asked the agitators to desist from violence.
Keywords: Cauvery agitation, Cauvery water sharing, protest rally, cauvery issue
People who hail from Karnataka are the most insecured. It's an irony that they can't accept people who do not speak their language. Water is not being released to Pakistan. They are only falling prey to the dirty politics. Their eyes and mindsets are completely closed.
@Rama - Karnataka will keep on building Dams throughout the stretch of Cauvery till Tamil Nadu border, thus denying TN's rightful share of water and you want TN to accept this. Shame on you for calling TN as Nazis..
Another instance of powerful states like Tamil Nadu muscling their way
to a disproportionate share of natural resources through coercion of
natural justice, perversion of laws, open support from bureaucracy,
alliance with a blind central government and utter disregard for
others. Puzzling to see in India that once a state and its people
become educated and modernized, they soon develop the character of
Nazis - Punjab and TN are good examples of this since independence.
They have lost their sense of connection to the ordinary people of
this country and defend only narrow sectarian interests of their
communities. What a sad travesty of cultures that produced so many
great individuals during our freedom movement ...
Honestly, what exactly is India made of? Water is an sensitive issue
all over the world and politicians are there stir things and get some
mileage out of small matters. If river cauvery has been running
through 3 or 4 states how can we claim the river belongs to only one
state? What if Kerala decides to build a dam in the catchment area
store it and release it in to the arabian sea? It doesn't make sense
right? So it has nothing to do with source we use from historical
context. Karnataka has built many dams in the past 40 yrs and until
then nobody demanded amount water to be released. Karnataka takes in
more water than before it has done historically and this affects
livelihood of people downstream. Tapping more water and wasting to sea
is fair. So its perfectly alright for karnataks to build dams and make
new irrigation area. But we need to make sure its not done at the
expense of people downstream. In a village if the 1st house takes all
water and nobody below what will people do?
It is all politics in India. Politicians play with the lives and dignity
of poor and middle class people. No political party is an exception.
Ultimately, people suffer and politicians thrive. This is Bharath.
Madness, it seems, is not the attribute of Tamil Nadu alone. Was not
the Cauvery row solved once the statues of Thiruvalluvar and Sarvagnyar
installed in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu respectively ?
We do not want to give water to our neighbors,where is Humanity?
Let us all share natural resources of our country? Even Animals do not fight on drinking water.What if God almighty dries up Kavery River?
where is united India? Are we going to make every state of India a country of itself?
It is not the People, these agitations are organised and paid for by the politicians who are waiting for an oppurtunity to show their strength!(weakness ??)
Best thing would be to nationalise all rivers and all dams under the
control of a central body that has representatives from every
state.This is completely disgusting.Without proper schemes to save
rainwater and without proper environmental literacy and sound social
science education this country shall sink deeper!(Pl.Note,Literacy is
not about using a grandiloquent English or an above average knowledge
in Science and Commerce,above all humanity is held together by humanity
and Social setup).If even distress sharing is not possible in this
country this nation(the people!not the geographic entity) is unfit to
call Gandhi its father.Tamil Nadu should know how to tackle with sudden
monsoon failures and so should Karnataka know how to help the state in
distress!.I weep at the very sight of this country being torn into
pieces just because its people can't share and care for a
priceless,life giving resource,WATER!!!!!!
I am waiting for the hindu to publish historical data on the annual requirement in karnataka for cauvery water and the requirement for Tamil Nadu. All I get is Tamil Nadu is asking and Karnataka is refusing!
Just because Kaveri flown through Karnataka first, does not imply that Karnataka
owns the water. Karnataka is not performing an act of charity by releasing Kaveri
water to Tamil Nadu. It is REQUIRED by law that the water is shared. And when there
is scarcity everyone shares the burden equally.
Now, I get why India was not named the 'United States' of India when it got the
freedom from the British. Its a shame that only a tsunami or a British RULE alone can
bring these people together. Learning to share is something that must be taught in
schools here. I feel sorry for these ignorant people.
It is a total shame
It is obvious that there are people in bangalore who are lawless, who refue to accept a courts verdict and abide by the Indian laws and justice.
THese scenes appear to the world as though a external country is stealing or taking away indian resources when in fact it is a deal amongst indians and the indian law has been applied
Indians appear to fight for justice but when justice is applied they refuse to accept it, shame on these people
there are politicians looting the state of resources hundres times the value of this water and you can do nothing about it, they have made fools out of you by diverting your attention. where is your sense and education gone to.
It is really heartening to see people in Bengaluru protesting on behalf of their farmer friends in Karnataka. In addition to such protests, hope the government involves technical consultants to find a alternate solution. In many places, rain water harvesting has been successfully implemented. Why not spend our energies on finding alternative solutions than downing the shutters and protesting?
Stiches in time saves nine. Water should be released in the time of irrigation, not during harvest. Water is common for all states. Prime Minister should interfere in this matter to solve the issue with both states mutual co-operation.
Once I was proud of being an Indian, now I'm ashamed. First, it is
pathetic to see people fooled by the politicians to do their bidding.
Had any of these protesters ever have had viewed the figures and have
drawn their own conclusion?
We are a free nation but how'd the people actually be free if they are
so gullible?
Many scientists/analysts have warned of the water scarcity and, in
future, it is expected to be a potential flash point between India-
China-Pakistan-Bangladesh. Yes, our politicians are to chastised for
the callousness to address the problem before it blows out. However,
it is really painful to find people to be so selfish. With so many
farm deaths, without water many in TN would be resorting to that
measure - So, would the protesters rather have their countrymen die
but not part with their profits? Isn't this the implicit message being
portrayed? Then where is the Indian unity in diversity?
It'd bode good if the UPA nationalizes the rivers instead of selling
India
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. How true!
It is really sad to see lot of people commenting that water should not
be released to TN.It is to be understood that ,cauvery is common for
all the states where it passes through. The attitude displayed here is
that "we are bossess.. you are beggars.." which is utterly wrong. Even
if there is one litre of water in cauvery, it has to be shared among
all the riparian states. It is also to be noted that everywhere the
lower riparian state has more right to claim the water of the river
which is accepted worldwide.The stand that there is less water in
Karnataka and hence cannot be shared is making a mockery of sharing a
natural resource. That being the case, can TN argue saying that the
lignite is dug up from neyveli and hence no electricity is to be
supplied from neyveli power plant to karnataka? that too when TN is
reeling under severe power cuts?
What TN is claiming is a LEGAL RIGHT.
Dear Karnataka... Cauvery is a national river and state borders should
not want to manipulate its natural flow especially when that river needs
to be shared now due to water scarcity in both adjoining states !!
When will we rise beyond the boundaries of region/state/language etc
etc. This is one nation and we should cooperate and coexist. The river
water belongs to the nation as a whole and we should share it amicably
so that the community can prosper. As for people not getting their due
share, we would like to appeal to the so called ministers to take care
of their responsibilities and "work" to provide the state with the basic
amenities, let the state function and please do not disrupt normalcy
with these useless bandhs!!- from a proud bangalorean/indian
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