BENGALURU: The presence of at least 8,000 protesters belonging to the Valmiki community near the Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday morning showed the incompetence of the police, not only controlling the crowd, as they tried to gherao the building, but also in ensuring security measures while not causing any inconvenience to commuters.
Led by Sri Prasannanandapuri Swamiji of Valmiki community, the rally left Davanagere two weeks ago and reached Freedom Park early on Tuesday morning, bringing traffic in central Bengaluru to a screeching halt.
At the Vidhana Soudha, high drama prevailed as the protesters, who did not even seek permission from the police, still managed to assemble in thousands. They allegedly hid in different groups around the building and even planned the time at which they would converge at the power centre.
Meanwhile, the traffic jam also ensnared Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar, who was headed to the City Civil Court for a case hearing. Seeing no way out, he took the Metro rail to reach his destination.
Motorists headed towards KR Circle, Nrupathunga Road, Shivajinagar, Corporation, High Court and Palace road suffered the most due to obstructions caused as the protesters took to the roads, blocking traffic.
There was a delay reportedly for those who took the Metro as well because of Shivakumar decided to hop onboard a metro train. Space had to be made for the minister and his entourage including the security personnel, which delayed several metro commuters.
Congress leader VS Ugrappa said, “Our (Valmiki) community people began a rally from around 300 km away to reach the city. They gave a memorandum to social welfare minister Priyank Kharge seeking higher reservation in jobs and education for the scheduled tribe community. We urge the Central government to take a decision on this immediately. Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy met the leaders of Valmiki community to assure them that he would look into their demand.”It is learnt that the police commissioner held a meeting with senior police officials later in the day and took them to task over poor arrangements.