A newly formed outfit, Chamarajapet Nagareekara Okkoota Vedike, that came into existence on July 3 with an aim to “save the playground” [Idgah Maidan], has called for Chamarajpet Bandh on July 12 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
S. Rukmangada, general secretary of the vedike, said they were fighting to save the playground and also for “their rights to hold Hindu and national festivals at the ground”.
“The ground should remain with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and not go to the Karnataka State Board of Wakf. We demand it be renamed after Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, the last king of Mysore,” he said. The vedike has formed a committee to “legally fight to save the playground” and has several BJP members, including N.R. Ramesh, president, BJP Bengaluru South; Vivek Reddy, president, BJP legal cell, and the former MLA Pramila Nesargi. However, Mr. Rukmangada maintained that theirs was a non-partisan fight.
The vedike has come down heavily on local Congress MLA B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan for “conspiring to hand over the land to the wakf board”. Responding to rumours that a mosque will be built on the land, Mr. Khan, who spoke to the media following a peace meeting on Friday, said the ground would always remain a playground and so there was no question of saving the playground. He appealed to those who have called for a bandh to withdraw the call.
However, the vedike in its statement, said they were not part of the peace meeting and the bandh would be successful. “The MLA is still not saying it is a BBMP property. He is conspiring to hand it over to the wakf board,” the vedike alleged.
The vedike also criticised Chief Commissioner of the BBMP Tushar Giri Nath “for giving up the BBMP’s claims over the playground”. However, Mr. Giri Nath had recently said documents submitted by the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf (wakf) showed that the BBMP had been permanently injuncted from entering the land. Despite this, the land was shown as a playground in the 1974 city survey and civic records since then, causing confusion.
