Southern States - Karnataka   

Human chain formed seeking Article 371 amendment

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA Dec. 26. Members of the Hyderabad-Karnataka Vishesha Sthana Mana Horata Samiti formed a human chain in front of the Vallabhai Patel Statue here on Thursday, disrupting traffic for over two hours.

They were protesting against the Centre's decision to reject the proposal sent by the State Government to amend Article 371 of the constitution to provide reservation in employment and education to the people of the backward regions in the State.

The samiti consisting of students' and social organisations, and political parties, including the All- India Students Federation, the All-India Youth Federation, the National Students Union of India, the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Sagar Group), the Janata Dal (U), the Janata Dal (S), and the Congress, had decided to step up its agitation. The human chain and the rasta roko were in the first phase of the protest.

Shoukat Ali Alur, President of the AISF State unit, Nandakumar Patil and Ravi Rathod, Congress corporators, Suresh Hadimani, District Organising Convener of the DSS, the Janata Dal (U) leaders, Deve Gowda Tellur and Revansiddappa Busnur, and Shyamsundar Joshi of the Janata Dal (S), led the protest.

In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, which was submitted to the Headquarters Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner, the samiti said the Centre had let down the people of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which had been recognised as backward. The memorandum accused the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, of backstabbing the people by promising that the proposal would be implemented and later going back on it. It was unfortunate that the promise made by Mr. Advani at a public meeting here was not reflected in the reply given by his deputy, I.D. Swamy, to the question raised in this regard by Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi, Gulbarga MP, in the Lok Sabha.

The leaders of the samiti, who raised slogans against the Centre for its "indifferent" attitude towards the demands of the people of the region, threatened to intensify their agitation against the "discriminatory" policies of the Centre if the decision to reject the proposal was not reversed.

The samiti wanted the State Government to pass a unanimous resolution during the current Legislature session demanding the amendment of Article 371 and resubmit the proposal again. If the Centre once again rejected the proposal, the legislators and ministers from the region should resign and join the agitation launched by the samiti, they added.

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