Bengaluru: Intensifying their long-standing demand for internal reservation within the Scheduled Castes, Madiga community organisations have announced a massive state-wide protest on August 1. Former Union Minister A. Narayanaswamy declared that protestors will gather in front of Deputy Commissioners’ offices across all districts to draw the state government’s attention to the issue.

Addressing a joint press meet at a private hotel in Bengaluru, Narayanaswamy reminded that August 1 will mark one year since Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud’s ruling on internal reservation. “If the Karnataka Cabinet fails to pass a resolution and present it in the Assembly by August 10, we will be forced to call for a Karnataka bandh,” he warned. He added that meetings with 4,000–5,000 people would be held to decide the next steps.

He cautioned that the Madiga community would launch a non-cooperation movement if the government continued to delay the implementation. “The Chief Minister himself once said that Congress lost because it failed to act on internal reservation. We will make sure history repeats itself if they betray us again,” he stated.

Narayanaswamy pointed out that the Madiga community has been fighting for internal reservation for over three decades. He cited examples of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where similar measures were successfully implemented. “In Telangana, internal reservation was enforced in 1999, upheld by the High Court in 2004. But here, even after the Supreme Court’s verdict, the Congress claims there is no need for it and denies the most marginalised their due share,” he alleged.

He accused the Congress, which ruled Karnataka for decades, of repeatedly neglecting the Madiga community’s rights. “Even AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge advised the Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to go slow, yet Revanth went ahead and implemented it. Andhra’s Chandrababu Naidu did it, Punjab did it, but Karnataka is dragging its feet,” he criticised.

Recounting recent developments, Narayanaswamy said that when the Madigas protested in Belagavi five months ago, ministers promised implementation within three months and formed the Nagamohan Das Commission with a 40-day deadline. “They asked for more time, but even after six months nothing has moved. The government didn’t provide key political and employment data sought by the commission,” he said, accusing the state of deliberately stalling the process.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and MP Govind Karjol also demanded that the state government implement internal reservation from August 16. “This is a betrayal of Dalits. In 2023, the Congress promised this in its manifesto and during its first Cabinet meeting.

But instead of delivering, they set up committees and keep extending deadlines,” Karjol alleged, adding that the Nagamohan Das Commission’s requests for crucial information went unanswered.

“If the government fails to act by August 16, it will be ‘implement or face mass agitation’. We will not let them bury this issue,” Karjol warned.