Udupi : The members of various progressive organisations led by the Karnataka Komu Sauharda Vedike (KKSV) district unit staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Thursday.

They were protesting against false cases foisted on the members of Students Federation of India (SFI) in Kolar on July 6 and the government’s support to the Bhagvad Gita campaign.

Addressing the protestors, vedike district unit president and writer G. Rajashekhar said Gangadhareshwara Swamiji of Sonda Swarnawalli Math continued with his speech as part of the Bhagvad Gita campaign at the Government Girls Pre-University College in Kolar on July 6 while the PUC examinations were going on. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. were in force on the campus.

Three members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) objected to the seer’s speech as prohibitory orders were in force. But the seer criticised them. The followers of the seer threatened to assault the SFI members. The police slapped false cases against the SFI members although they had not violated any law. Hence the government should immediately withdraw the cases. In fact, it was the seer and his followers, who had violated the law, he said.

The vedike respected all holy books including the Bhagvad Gita, the Koran, and the Bible. But India was a secular country. The Bhagvad Gita campaign was a private programme of a particular math. It was not a part of the approved curriculum of the State government. Instead of standing by the Constitution, the State government was supporting the Bhagvad Gita campaign from four years. “We are against instruction of any of the canonical texts as India is a secular country,” Mr. Rajashekhar said.

Writer K. Phaniraj said the government had given instructions to the officers of the Education Department and teachers to participate in the Bhagvad Gita campaign. This was a clear violation of the Constitution. The government should keep away from such privately-sponsored programmes, he said. – The Hindu