The Balija community in Karnataka is planning to intensify its struggle for employment and political reservation. The backward community, whose classification was shifted from 2A to 3A in 1994, had been deprived of reservation in education, employment and political fields.
Though the State government shifted the community to 2A for reservation in 2010, employment and political reservation has eluded them. “We are a 50 lakh strong backward community in Karnataka. But, we have been deprived of job and political reservation,” rued former chairman of Mysuru Paints and Varnishes H.A. Venkatesh.
The leaders of the community, who had gathered at the annual general body meeting of the Yogi Narayana Balija Sangha in Mysuru recently, vowed to intensify their struggle for political and employment reservation.
Former Minister M.R. Seetharam, present at the meeting, said the 1994 State government had wronged the community by shifting its classification from 2A to 3A. He said he would not rest till the benefits of employment and political reservations were extended to the community.
Mr. Venkatesh said the community had been subjugated ever since the then M. Veerappa Moily government shifted its classification from 2A to 3A. Though reservation in education was restored in 2010 by the B.S. Yeddiyurappa government, the community’s struggle for employment and political reservation has not paid off, he regretted.
On account of the ‘unscientific’ classification of the community, it has been denied of selections in the Karnataka State Public Service Commission (KPSC) and berths in the Cabinet, he said.
