Shivamogga: Members of the Banjara community allegedly targeted BJP leader B S Yediyurappa's house on Monday. They reportedly pelted stones and injured some police officers. The protest is against the internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) announced by the state government.
The police used batons to disperse the crowd of protesters and some of them were injured. When youngsters swarmed the house and hurled stones which damaged the house, the police were taken by surprise. Additional forces were then summoned to the area to offer protection to the MLA. Leaders of the Banjara community said that they will lose out due to the government's decision and demanded that the state withdraw the recommendation to the Centre.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in the town.
The Banjara community belongs to the ‘Scheduled Caste-Touchables’ and as per the new arrangement, they allegedly get "less reservation". The Karnataka government last week decided to introduce internal reservation amongst the SCs. CM Basavaraj Bommai hiked reservations from 15% to 17%. 6% of the reservation will be given to SC left sub-category, 5.5% to SC right, 4.5% to Touchables, and 1% to others. Within the Scheduled Castes, followers of Babu Jagjivan Ram are categorised as 'right', and those who follow BR Ambedkar are in the 'left' category.
According to a report on NDTV, protestors of Korchi, Bovi, and Kurmi communities were also among the protestors.