The importance given to Kannada, or the lack of it, remains one of the most sensitive issues in Bengaluru, the information technology capital of India. The issue spilt over to the city’s streets again last week, on December 27. Activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) — a Kannada group that was born in the late 1990s, when the city emerged on the global stage — took out a protest march against the display of non-Kannada signboards by commercial establishments. However, it soon degenerated into vandalism of shops and signboards.
At least 50 complaints on specific instances of vandalism were registered with the Bengaluru City Police. While the protest rally was on the International Airport road and targeted the new Phoenix Mall of Asia, incidents of vandalism were reported from across the city. Groups of KRV activists were seen roaming the streets warning shopkeepers, pelting stones, and damaging non-Kannada signboards. Police drew ire for not being able to stop the vandalism.
Karnataka’s Congress government, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, which has backed the campaign for Kannada signboards, went into a damage-control-mode to save ‘Brand Bangalore’ and distanced itself from the violence by arresting KRV president T.A. Narayana Gowda. Over 13 cases have been registered, and over 50 KRV activists have been arrested.
