Bengaluru, Nov 3 Kannada activist T A Narayana Gowda on Tuesday said the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike would continue its statewide campaign to assess employment opportunities for Kannadigas in private companies through November 30 and submit a comprehensive report to the state government.
The campaign, involving teams visiting IT and other major companies to collect recruitment data, would not be withdrawn despite pressure from the government or police, he said, adding that a delegation would meet Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and seek a time-bound action on implementing job reservations.
“We will visit all IT companies and almost all major industries, examine how many Kannadigas have been employed there and collect information on the number of jobs given to them,” Gowda, who heads one of the factions of KRV, told reporters here.
He said KRV teams had visited around 100 IT companies on Monday and another 112 on Tuesday, submitting representations to their human resources departments seeking details of employment provided to Kannadigas at different levels.
“Our ten teams, each consisting of ten members, are visiting IT companies and sitting down with their HR personnel. The KRV is carrying out this exercise in a very serious and peaceful manner, without creating any scope for confrontation,” he said.
After collecting the information, the organisation would submit a report to the Chief Minister and give the government a deadline to bring the issue of employment reservations before the Cabinet and take steps towards implementation, he said.
Gowda said the campaign, which would cover private establishments across Karnataka, was aimed at protecting the employment interests of local youth and would continue despite any pressure.
“Under no circumstances will we withdraw from this struggle, regardless of pressure from any government or the police department. This concerns the livelihood and future of the children of this land,” he said.
He also criticised IT industry veteran Mohandas Pai for his remarks on the issue, alleging that they were provocative and insensitive to the concerns of Kannadigas.
“There is a person in the IT sector, an eccentric named Mohandas Pai, who keeps coming out from time to time and provoking and irritating Kannadigas. Whenever I see Mohandas Pai, I feel that he is playing the role of Shakuni from the Mahabharata in the present Kaliyuga,” Gowda said.
He alleged that Pai was destroying the future of Kannadigas.
“I am warning that Shakuni — Mohandas Pai — that if Kannadigas decide to destroy the Shakuni clan, it will take them just one minute.
However much pressure you exert on the government, and whatever attempts you make to suppress or obstruct this movement, if anyone tries to do so, the KRV will launch an uprising in Karnataka. Nobody will be able to stand against it,” he alleged.
Reacting to it, Pai asked Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to assert his writ.
“CM of Karnataka avare. You are our CM. Please decide if you are ruling our state or these vigilantes are running the state,” Pai posted on X.
Gowda’s remarks come following CM Shivakumar’s appeal to Kannada organisations not to target IT companies or take the law into their own hands, while assuring that the government would address their concerns.
On Monday, Gowda had said the ‘Agraha Abhiyana’ was a campaign and not a protest or an exercise in moral policing, asserting that companies operating in Karnataka should provide the lion’s share of employment opportunities to Kannadigas.
(PTI News)
