Karnataka Brahmin groups demand Cabinet berth, threaten to intensify protests

Brahmin community organisations in Karnataka have stepped up protests demanding political representation, after the community was left without a ministerial berth in Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s 33-member Cabinet.The Kalaburagi Zilla Brahmin Sangha staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Kalaburagi on Saturday, August 8, demanding adequate representation for the community in the state Cabinet as well as government corporations and boards.Community leaders, led by Sangha district president Pandurang Deshmukh and vice-president Shyamacharya Baichibal, said the government should recognise the contribution of the Brahmin community to the state and ensure it receives what they described as fair political representation.The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister through the Deputy Commissioner. They also urged the government to consider senior Congress leaders Dinesh Gundu Rao and RV Deshpande for induction into the Cabinet.The protesters warned that their agitation would continue until the community was given a dignified representation.The protests follow the expansion of Shivakumar’s Cabinet two months after he assumed office. Nineteen MLAs were inducted as ministers, taking the strength of the ministry to 33 and leaving one Cabinet berth vacant.While the expanded ministry has representation from several communities, including seven Scheduled Caste ministers and three Muslim ministers, none of Karnataka’s three Brahmin MLAs was inducted into the Cabinet.Brahmin organisations have described the exclusion as unprecedented. The Akhila Karnataka Brahmana Mahasabha (AKBM) had earlier held a demonstration at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, claiming that it was the first time in Karnataka’s post-Independence history, or at least in the past three decades, that no Brahmin minister was part of the state Cabinet.Brahmins are estimated to constitute around 2-3% of Karnataka’s population.