The 12-hour Karnataka bandh called by a coalition of pro-Kannada organisations demanding the implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report on job reservations for Kannadigas in the state did not majorly impact life in the state on Thursday.
Normal life in Bengaluru and other cities, towns went uninterrupted with isolated incidents of minor violence. There was increased police preparedness near major rail and bus stations to prevent untowards incidents.
In one incident, a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet in Mangaluru city was pelted with stones.
Schools, other educational institutions, shops, offices and other establishments opened as usual in most parts of Bengaluru.
However, exams were postponed by the Bangalore University to avoid inconvenience to students.
All public bus services within Bengaluru and the rest of the state ran as per normal schedule. As expected, train services and metro rail also ran uninterrupted.
According to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) spokesperson, all morning schedules ran as planned. Similarly, the Karnataka State Transport Corporation said more than 90% of their scheduled operations ran as per normal.
Even app-hailed cab services ran as per normal despite multiple auto and taxi associations claiming their support to the strike.
A protest rally is set to be held in the city's Maurya Circle and Freedom Park area on Thursday.
The protesters demanded implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report which guarantees reservation of jobs in the state for Kannadigas in the state in both the private and government sectors.
Police also kept a close watch on some leaders of the movement. However, not all pro-Kannada outfits came in support of the bandh.
“Some people are doing this bandh for publicity. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is committed to implementation of recommendations in the Sarojini Mahishi report but we don't support any bandh today. There will be no protests or bandh by the Vedike,” Praveen Shetty, chief of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a major outfit told TNM.
Earlier Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appealed to the organisations not to cause any inconvenience to the general public as he asserted his government was always pro-Kannada.
The Karnataka government under Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had in 1983 appointed a committee led by four-time MP Sarojini Mahishi to look into reservation for Kannadigas in the state. The Sarojini Mahishi report was prepared in 1986 and it recommended job reservations for Kannadigas in government jobs, public sector units and even in the private sector.
Many of the 58 recommendations made in the report have been implemented by successive state governments in power in the state. Many pro-Kannada organisations have pointed to the recommendations made in the report asking for a greater share of jobs in Karnataka for Kannadigas.