Members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike hold a rally on Airport Road, demanding the installation of Kannada signage in commercial establishments.
Credit: DH PHOTO
A protest-cum-awareness campaign called by the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) on the mandate that business establishments must have 60% of the signage on their nameboards in Kannada on Wednesday took a violent turn with activists resorting to vandalism and attacking several establishments for sporting non-Kannada boards.
City police detained more than 500 members of KRV including its state president, TA Narayana Gowda, as a preventive measure. As of 8 pm on Wednesday, five cases were booked in three different police jurisdictions.
Dinesh Kumar, organising secretary of KRV claimed that the rally was planned to start at Sadahalli, near Devanahalli, and end in the city centre. Over 5,000 people arrived in the city from across the state to take part in the rally, he said.
However, soon after the rally kicked off, activists began targeting English signboards along Airport Road in Chikkajala and tore them down. Boards of private hotels and other private establishments were also vandalised.
Despite strict police bandobast near Sadahalli, groups of KRV activists soon surfaced in several parts of the city and started pulling down and damaging signboards in English.
Activists dismantle non-Kannada boards.
Credit: DH PHOTO/MANJUNATH M S
Franchises of top clothing and beverage brands and eateries were targeted in the central business district. The activists hurled stones at English glass signboards and pulled down hoardings. Vandalism was reported in KR Puram, Rajajinagar and other major areas. A few shops on Lavelle Road, despite having Kannada on the name boards, fell victim to the enraged mob.
While about 500 police personnel were deputed
for the bandobust, additional reinforcements were called but when the protestors’ ranks swelled and cops swooped down on activists and took them into preventive detention.
Addressing the press, Gowda denounced the police’ action to stop them and claimed that police were trying to suppress their voices. “You are also a Kannadiga. We are raising our voice to save our language in our own land. This rally is important for us,” Gowda said.
Gowda reiterated that the deadline for having Kannada signboards is February 28, 2024 and even after this if the nameboards don’t have Kannada, they wouldn’t sit quiet.
In a release, Narayana Gowda claimed that the rally and campaign was a huge success and they would extend the same to other parts of the state.