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Karnataka bandh passes off peacefully

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Allaying fears of trouble and violence, the one-day Karnataka bandh on Thursday ended on a peaceful note, barring stray incidents of stone-throwing in a few pockets of Bangalore.

State Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge told mediapersons that the state remained by and large peaceful and the law and order situation was under control throughout the state.

While the bandh was total in the entire old Mysore region and partial in the Malnad region, it was a virtual flop in the coastal districts of the southern state. The Rajakumar Fans' Association and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce had called the bandh.

Kharge informed the media that the bandh had crippled normal life in the northern districts of Raichur, Koppal, Bellary and Gulbarga as shops, business establishments, offices and petrol retail outlets remained closed.

The fervent appeal made by Kannada icon Dr Rajakumar to observing the bandh peacefully had a salutary effect on his frenzied fans, who had called for a state-wide bandh in protest against the delay in securing the thespian's release from the clutches of forest brigand Veerappan. The hostage crisis entered the 60th day on Thursday.

With schools and colleges ordered closed as a pre-cautionary measure, majority of the people in the four southern districts of Bangalore, Mandya, Mysore, and Chamrajnagar preferred to remain indoors as shops, commercial establishments, markets, hotels, theatres, and private offices also decided to follow suit.

Normal life in Bangalore was paralysed. State public transport buses operated a skeletal service, though commuters chose to stay away, and roads were deserted.

Even inter-state buses from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh did not ply. Their services were terminated on the outskirts of Bangalore or at various points along the state's borders.

Hundreds of Information Technology companies, including home-grown global giants like Infosys and Wipro, besides a host of Multi-National Corporations declared a holiday deciding to make up for the day's loss by working on Saturday.

Though banks remained open, transactions were minimal. So was the case in courts. State government offices reported thin attendance.

In Mysore, the 10-day Dusshera celebrations began on a sombre note though organisers of the bandh had exempted the tourist city from observing it.

At the end of the day, the beleaguered state government heaved a sigh of relief as the bandh passed off without any untoward incident. The 10,000-strong police machinery, which was geared up for the occasion, was also relieved.

Tamil organisations in Bangalore and in the border areas of the state expressed relief after the day passed off peacefully without a repeat of the 1991 Cauvery riots, when Tamils living in Karnataka were the target of mob violence.

ALSO SEE
Peaceful start to Karnataka bandh
Veerappan's hostage Nagraj turns up in Talawadi

The Rajakumar Abduction: complete coverage
The saga of Veerappan

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