Bangalore : The government will ban ‘Valmiki yaaru’ (Who is Valmiki), a book by scholar Prof K S Narayanacharya on the ground that it has hurt the sentiments of a community, ruling party leader in the Legislative Council S R Patil said.

Replying to a debate on the controversial book initiated by V S Ugrappa (Congress) on Thursday, Patil said that a case will be registered against Prof Narayanacharya under various sections of the IPC for his alleged derogatory remarks on Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana.

Ugrappa staged a dharna in the well of the House when Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree said that a Fact-finding Committee will be constituted to study the objectionable portion in the book and then the department will recommend to Home Department to take a final call on this issue.

Ugrappa rushed to the well of the House much to the embarrassment of the ruling party and continued his dharna despite repeated requests by the Congress members to go to his seat.

Bowing to pressure, Patil said that the government will ban the book as well as book a case against the author. Ugrappa quoted the book and said that Narayanacharya had insulted the Beda (hunters) community by writing that Valmiki was a Brahmin. The author has also made derogatory remarks against the ancestors of Valmiki and women, he said. He had also questioned the government for celebrating ‘Valmiki Jayanti’.