- Dr. Ambedkar’s portrait removal leads to a massive protest in Karnataka.
- Karnataka H.C. comes to a resolution over Dr. Ambedkar’s portrait removal.
On Friday, the High Court of Karnataka passed a resolution where they decided to place a portrait of Dr. BR Ambedkar in all official functions of the Courts. The decision came from the Principal Bench at Bengaluru, the Benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi, and all District and Taluk Courts in the State.
General T.G. Shivashankare Gowda, in a circular issued, based on the resolution passed in the full court’s meeting, said that the district judiciary was directed to instruct all the courts that come under their jurisdiction to take necessary action to place the portrait of Dr. Ambedkar in the essential functions.
It all started from the protests in Raichur, which a group of advocates and others led on January 26 alleging that the Principal District and Sessions Judge got removed a portrait of Dr. Ambedkar, which was kept along with an image of Mahatma Gandhi before hoisting the national flag on the court premises.
However, Mallikarjuna Gouda, the PDSJ, later clarified in writing that some advocates had approached him to keep Dr. Ambedkar’s portrait and Gandhiji’s image as per the Government Order.
Still, he had told the advocates that Registrar General of the High Court had informed in the meeting of PDSJs that the decision to keep Dr. Ambedkar’s portrait is delaying consideration before the full court of the High Court.
The PDSJ had also stated that “he had not seen anyone keeping Dr. Ambedkar’s portrait or removing it during the Republic Day ceremony.”
Protest in Raichur
On the Republic Day celebrations, a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar kept on the side of Mahatma Gandhi on a dais was removed moments before the national flag was hoisted on the District Court premises in Raichur, which led to protests by a section of advocates attending the event.
According to the reports, the central district and Sessions Judge directed his subordinates to remove the photo, and the tricolor was unfurled later. The protest was mainly against the rules put forward by the Registrar of the High Court of Karnataka, which instructed courts to place only Mahatma Gandhi’s portraits during the Republic Day celebrations.
The viral video clips on social media showed the removal of the portrait of Dr. Ambedkar and the heated battle of words that followed later.
The Samvidhana Rakshana Samithi members and many Dalit organizations also came together and called for a city curfew from 6 am to 5 pm to protest against the disrespect towards Dalit icon Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
The bandh also received extensive student support from various colleges who joined the protest call and members of several Dalit organizations pouring onto the streets. Soon the protest created a furor as Sub-Urban Bus Stand was blocked for over an hour, and the City Bus Stand was halted for over two hours.
Karnataka judge dismisses allegation against him
Right after the protests from Dalit organizations, Principal District and Sessions Judge Mallikarjuna Gowda dismissed the allegation that he had asked the portrait to be removed. He backfired by saying that it was a propagandist move as he would never disrespect such a great personality as B.R. Ambedkar.
Also, he accused it of misinformation and requested people not to believe it. Further, he said, “I have not seen anybody placing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s portrait and removing it. Hiding this fact, some people propagated that I had made the removal of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar portrait as a precondition to hoist the flag.”
At the same time, BJP MLA and former minister Shivanagouda Naik sought action from the high court and described the incident as painful.
Published By – Vanshu Mehra
Edited By – Subbuthai Padma
