TUMAKURU: Tension prevailed in Tumakuru when members of NSUI, the student wing of Congress, laid siege to the residence of Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh at his hometown Tiptur on Wednesday. As many as 15 NSUI members have been detained by the police.
The incident occurred when BC Nagesh was attending a national conference of education ministers on school education at Ahmedabad in Gujarat. He is expected to return to the state on Thursday evening.
At around 3.30 pm, NSUI members who came in two vehicles started staging a demonstration outside the minister’s house over the textbook revision issue. They burnt a pair of khaki shorts as a symbolic protest against the alleged saffronisation of education by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai led- BJP government in the state. The NSUI members clashed with some local BJP workers who were present there. Police rushed to the spot and dispersed the mob.
“NSUI activists protesting at the home of B C Nagesh in Tiptur is condemnable. Such a move will bring disgrace to students and educationists. The perpetrators of this crime will be prosecuted”, warned CM Basavaraj Bommai. District in-charge and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra who was in Tumakaru to take part in a function warned that the government will not tolerate “goonda” culture of NSUI members who allegedly tried to set fire to the minister’s residence.