Members of various Brahmin associations stage protest against Janivara incidents

Members of various Brahmin organisations taking out a protest march in Belagavi on Monday against the removal of Janivara during the recent CET in some centres in the State.
| Photo Credit: P.K. BADIGER

Members of various Brahmin associations took out a protest against the forcible removal of Janivara or sacred thread of candidates appearing for the CET in the State recently.

They sought criminal action against officials who were responsible for these incidents and threatened a State-wide protest against the Congress government.

BJP MLA Abhay Patil joined the protest and expressed solidarity with the community.

The protestors gathered at the Kittur Channamma Circle and shouted slogans against the Congress government. They held placards in Kannada and Marathi that said Save Janivara, Save Brahmins.

Some removed their shirt to display the sacred thread, while others held an extra set of the thread in their hands.

The protestors condemned the policies adopted by the Karnataka Examination Authority. Some raised slogans against the Congress government in the State and termed it an anti-Hindu government. They walked to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and submitted a memorandum seeking action against Karnataka Examination Authority officers.

Mr. Abhay Patil said that Janivara is sacred for Brahmins and some other communities too.

“Wearing it is part of their essential religious practices and its forcible removal amounts to insulting the individual and the community. It seems that the officers who forced candidates to remove it were prejudiced against it. This is an atrocity against the community,” he said. An insult to Brahmins amounts to an insult to the larger Hindu society, he added.

Another leader Rekha Desai said that vested interests who could not tolerate the academic development of Brahmins are behind this.

Akhil Karnataka Brahmin Mahasabha district representative Akshaya Kulkarni, district Brahmin Samaj Trust vice-president Bharat Deshpande, leaders R.S. Muthalik, Dinesh Deshpande, Sanjeev Kulkarni and others were present.