Earlier this year, a group of retired teachers from aided schools demanding they be added to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) sat in protest at Freedom Park for 142 days with no government functionary visiting them to even receive a memorandum.
“The hopelessness of the long-drawn-out protest grew so intense that two teachers ended their lives, forcing us to abandon the protest. Even after the two deaths, nobody turned up or responded. Sitting at Freedom Park is mostly ineffective, and the powers that be just ignored us,” said Karibasappa, President, Aided Schools and College Teachers’ Federation.
In January 2022, the Bengaluru Police Commissioner issued an order restricting all protests to Freedom Park, one of the reasons being the traffic snarls the marches resulted in. However, civil society groups say the decision “made protests invisible”. They are now spearheading a campaign titled “End the Invisibalisation of Protests”, seeking the rollback of the police order.
“A protest or a street struggle is aimed at drawing the attention of the government and citizens. Often, even when thousands of women sit on a day-night dharna, it rarely pricks the conscience of either the society or the government because we are not even seen. This is as good as our voice getting scuttled,” said S. Varalakshmi, President, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Karnataka, who leads unions of anganwadi workers and mid-day meal workers.
“Earlier this year, when the government did not give us even an audience despite thousands of women sitting and sleeping on the streets, we had to issue a threat to gherao the Chief Minister’s residence, to finally get some response from them. This itself shows the ineffectiveness of Freedom Park as a venue of protest vis a vis others,” she added.
“For over a year, the police have restricted protests and public gatherings in any place other than Freedom Park and have refused permission for processions. This has caused enormous hardship to all those seeking to exercise their constitutional rights and is against the very spirit of plural and diverse Karnataka where all citizens can make their concerns heard and felt,” an online petition, who is part of the campaign, said.
Students and protesters demonstrating against the Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Town Hall in Bengaluru on December 22, 2019. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Karnataka High Court’s intervention
The city police said the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021, followed a “direction” from the Karnataka High Court and their hands were tied.
However, advocate and activist Vinay Sreenivasa pointed out that the High Court had been hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the hardships to citizens due to protests following a letter highlighting these issues by a sitting High Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar in March 2021 and before any order was issued, the city police commissioner voluntarily issued the January 2022 order and submitted it to the court, following which the court disposed of the PIL directing the State to follow the January 2022 order in August 2022.
Freedom Park earlier housed the Central Jail and was converted into a memorial park in the early 2000s after the jail was shifted to Parappana Agrahara. In the late 2000s, Freedom Park was designated as one of the sites for protests in the Central Business District, prior to which protests were allowed inside Cubbon Park too.
For a city of over 700 sq.km., also the State’s capital, where people from other parts of the State also come to make their voices heard, the only protest site is a small part of Freedom Park that houses a memorial for the erstwhile Central Prison and a multi-level car park as well. The place can, at best, house not more than 3,000 people.
“Even the space at Freedom Park is shrinking every day. Now, following objections by establishments on the road adjoining Freedom Park, police do not allow us to sit in protest even there. Apart from allowing protests across the city, the entire Freedom Park area must be reserved for protests, withdrawing its custody from Tourism Department,” Ms. Varalakshmi said.
Congress and JD(S) MLAs stage a dharna in front of Gandhi Statue near Vidhan Soudha to protest against the then Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s invitation to the BJP to form the government, in Bengaluru on May 17, 2018. | Photo Credit: PTI
Police bat for restricting protests to Freedom Park
A senior police official, who refused to be quoted, said the High Court “directive” was a blessing in disguise as it had empowered the police to do what they wanted to do for years now.
“In a metropolitan city like Bengaluru, already infamous for its traffic snarls, it is not feasible to let protests mar the traffic flow further. Even the national capital New Delhi has a designated spot for protests in Jantar Mantar and this is not unique to Bengaluru,” the officer said.
Another officer said most protesters prefer the CBD area, like Vidhana Soudha, Town Hall, Mysore Bank Circle, or taking out a procession from the KSR Railway Station to Vidhana Soudha. “Bengaluru is a radial city with a road network resembling a wheel with CBD at the centre and roads like spokes. If traffic is thrown out of gear in the CBD, it has a ripple effect across many parts of the city,” he said.
Given that the seat of power and ministerial bungalows are also in the CBD, police cite security reasons as well for banning protests there, a move that has found resonance among the corridors of power too. “It is common for those in power to put pressure on us to ensure they are not forced to face the ire of protestors,” a senior official said.
Organisations supporting the farmers’ agitation taking out a procession from the Town Hall to the SBM Circle demanding the roll-back of farm laws, in Bengaluru on September 27, 2021. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Opposition violates norms
Earlier this month, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, under whose tenure the January 2022 order was issued, was detained for protesting at Maurya Circle, violating the order. He, along with several other BJP leaders, was booked for the same. Earlier this year, after a BJP MLA’s son was caught red-handed accepting a bribe, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, then leader of the Opposition, was detained for trying to gherao the Chief Minister’s residence, demanding his resignation.
While civil society groups, with less wherewithal to face the brunt of the State police either to pay penalties or face cases have taken a hit, and the number and vibrancy of protests in the City have come down, it seems to have done little to curb the rallies and protests by political parties.
There have been multiple instances where the order has turned into a big obstacle for civil society groups to let their voices be heard since its issuance. The Pride March and a May Day rally were not allowed, even as the Karaga procession was made an exception. Over 70 citizens from the Save Sankey campaign, who took out a silent protest march, were booked. Farmers protesting in Devanahalli, pourakarmikas protesting harassment and Dalit activists seeking internal reservations were also booked for holding protests elsewhere.
“There is no point in forcing those who want to protest on a local issue like Sankey Tank to come to Freedom Park. Removing the protest from its context will rob it of all significance,” said Preeti Sunderajan of Save Sankey Campaign.
Senior Kannada activist and politician Vatal Nagaraj, a veteran of several protests, said he had over five FIRs registered against him in Halasur Gate Police Station for protesting at Mysore Bank Circle over the last year. “I have been holding protests at Mysore Bank Circle for nearly 60 years and have decided not to move to Freedom Park in protest against the 2022 order. I have stood alone in Mysore Bank Circle to protest this order. The only way to protest this draconian undemocratic order is to protest against it on the street. The city police and the State government should convince even the High Court to lift these restrictions,” he said.
Demand to withdraw the order
“When protests are restricted to Freedom Park and condemned to invisibility, it is a violation of the expressive and communicative aspect, which is the very heart of the right,” the petition says. Terming the 2022 order “unconstitutional” for its “effective suppression of the right to protest”, civil society groups have now demanded that the order be withdrawn and, if need be, that the government should pass a law recognising the right to protest while regulating it at the same time. Civil society groups have also demanded that all cases filed against those for protesting elsewhere in the city, in violation of the 2022 order, be withdrawn immediately.
Published - June 29, 2023 09:40 pm IST
