Bharat bandh over SC quota verdict gets mixed response, schools shut
Jalandhar, August 21
On a call given by organisations for Bharat bandh, a protest by the Ravidassia community here today evoked a mixed response, with commuters facing hardships.
Protests were held at Buta Mandi, Wadala Chowk, Rama Mandi and Pathankot Chowk against the Supreme Court order of upholding the policy of quota within quota for employment. On the periphery, the protesters gathered at Ballan village in Kartarpur, Adampur and Phillaur where the motorists faced problems.
Since it rained heavily at the time when the protest was to start around 10 am, the gathering remained thin at most of the locations. However, people started assembling and the protests at Rama Mandi and Buta Mandi grew bigger. As the agitators sat on the road, the police made way for the commuters via the service lanes where the traffic remained slow till 3 pm.
As a precautionary measure, almost all private and aided schools had been shut down by the authorities for the safety of the children and to make sure that they did not get caught up in the traffic snarls because of the protests at the time of closing of the schools.
The markets remained largely open, especially since Valmik leaders had been asking all shopkeeper associations not to support the bandh call. The bandh call saw the Ravidassia and Valmik communities opposing each other over the issue of sub-categorisation of castes for reservation. While the Ravidassia community is opposed to the Supreme Court decision, the Valmik leaders are in favour of the August 1 judgement. The shopkeepers in areas around the protest sites chose to keep the shutters down from 10 am to 3 pm to avoid any confrontation.
No political leaders other than those from the BSP joined the protests. BSP leader Balwinder Kumar said the sub-categorisation would only lead to confrontation among all castes. “The dispute was only in Punjab and Haryana but the Supreme Court has passed order for the whole nation. The caste conflicts are set to increase after this order”, he said.
