Members of the Valmiki community (Naik) have decided to boycott the official celebration of Valmiki Jayanti in Ballari on October 27 to protest against the failure of the State government in extending the enhanced (7.5 per cent) reservation benefits.
Addressing a joint press conference held here on Wednesday, community leaders such as B. Rudrappa, M.K. Sadashivappa, V.S. Shivashankar, Badami Shivalinga and Vaddatti Karibasappa charged the State government of not initiating any steps to extend the enhanced reservation benefits.
They also took exception to the MPs and MLAs representing the community, for not evincing an interest towards the welfare of the community, but concentrating on pursuing their personal interest.
“We condemn both the State government and the MLAs and MPs from our community for not taking up our cause,” they said, adding that they wanted to send a strong message to the government by boycotting the official function.
They said over 51 castes were brought under the Scheduled Tribes tag, even as the reservation percentage was limited to three per cent, though the Union government has enhanced it to 7.5 per cent.
“The tragedy is that reservation in politics has been increased but not in education, employment and others. This has hit the community hard,” they said, adding that a similar decision was taken by members of other districts too.
To a question, they said the community leaders would celebrate the birth anniversary separately by garlanding the statue of Valmiki installed at the SP Circle.
