Bengaluru: Seeking Maharashtra Ekikarana Samithi (MES) ban in state, pro-Kannada activists and organizations have called for bandh on December 31st.
Kannada activist and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other organizations made the demand at a press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday, giving time till December 29 to ban the organization.
They further stated that in event of the government not imposing a ban on MES, the bandh will be scheduled on December 31, from 6 am to 6 pm.
Allegedly, MES workers had vandalized freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna's statue in Belagavi and burnt a Kannada flag.
"We are giving a deadline to the Karnataka government to ban MES by December 29 midnight. If they fail to ban, a bandh will be observed across the state. It is a question of self-respect. No one should oppose this bandh," Vatal said.
The government, he added, should also urge the Central government to impose President's rule in Maharashtra as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has failed to rein in elements who are targeting Kannada-speaking people.
Various Kannada organisations have extended support to the bandh. However, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike President, Narayana Gowda said that they don't support the call for a bandh.
"People have just been recovering from Covid-19 infection. Bandh is not a solution for all problems. We will protest against MES in a different way," he added.
Also read: Miscreants burn Kannada flag, deface Basavanna's portrait in Belagavi
