NEW DELHI // The city of Bengaluru, capital of India’s IT industry, came to a standstill on Friday as a result of a state-wide strike called to protest against Karnataka’s release of river water to its downstream neighbour, Tamil Nadu.
Shops, schools, restaurants and many government offices remained shut, and public transport stayed off the roads from dawn to dusk. Across the state, main roads were blocked by protesters in response to the bandh – or strike – called by farmers’ associations and labour unions.
Karnataka’s government put the state police on red alert and called up 1,000 federal troops for security. The neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra also sent companies of reserve police.
The chief minister of Karnataka appealed for calm ahead of the strike. “We should not destroy our own property to protest [against] the injustice meted out to us,” Siddaramaiah, who goes by only one name, tweeted on Thursday. “Let the bandh proceed peacefully.”
There were reports of stray incidents of arson and violence across Karnataka, including public buses operated by the Tamil Nadu government being pelted with stones near the border between the two states.
The river Cauvery, which begins in south-western Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu, supports most of the agriculture in the two states. As a result, sharing its water has been contentious for nearly a century.
Although a government tribunal determined the allocations of water to the two states in 2007, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have both appealed against that decision, asking for more water.
This year, after a poor rainy season, Tamil Nadu petitioned the supreme court for more water, claiming that its farmers would be severely distressed otherwise. Although the petition has been referred to the tribunal’s committee, which adjudicates disputes, the court on Monday directed Karnataka to release 424,500 litres of water daily over a 10-day period, as an interim solution.
Amid demonstrations, Karnataka began this disbursal of water on Wednesday.
Both the state government and protesters say that Karnataka’s reservoirs are running low, and that it needs all the water it can get.
“When we are being given only drinking water and not a drop for irrigation, why should farmers in Tamil Nadu be given water to grow their crops?” M H Ambareesh, a legislator in the Karnataka assembly, said on Friday. “This is patently unjust, and the Karnataka government must file a review petition in supreme court against the decision.”
Although other parts of Karnataka were affected to varying degrees – with the towns of Mysuru (formerly Mysore) and Mandya hit particularly hard – the effects of the strike were most visible in Bengaluru.
Most of the city’s IT firms, including several multinationals, declared Friday a holiday. Taxis, buses and the Metro refused to operate. A local television channel showed an autorickshaw driver being beaten by vigilante strikers for plying his trade.
Ashwin Kumar, a freelance photographer living in Bengaluru, watched from his high-rise apartment in the suburb of Whitefield as a group of 10 motorcycle riders patrolled the roads, checking shops and other establishments to see if any were open.
“They threatened the restaurants that were open, telling them to shut down,” said Mr Kumar. “They even threatened people who were just hanging around outdoors on the street.”
Mr Kumar, who is originally from Chennai and whose car bears a Tamil Nadu registration plate, said he left it at home even when he ventured out on Thursday, in case it invited violence. As a result of the anti-Tamil Nadu sentiment, cable television operators stopped relaying Tamil channels, and movie theatres suspended shows of Tamil movies.
The disruption to services left Bangalore’s normally teeming streets utterly empty, and played havoc with travel itineraries.
Hundreds of passengers disembarking at Bangalore’s airport and railway stations found themselves without transport to reach their final destinations.
Vinayak Varma, a graphic designer, found himself in an opposite quandary. On Thursday evening, fearing he would be unable to get a taxi to catch a flight on Friday afternoon, he canvassed friends on Facebook to see if anyone was planning to drive to the airport.
“A lot of people seemed to be planning to land up at the airport before dawn or even the previous night, even if they were only getting on afternoon flights like me,” Mr Varma said. “The airport hotel claimed to be fully booked up right from midnight last night.”
“I’d have done the same, but I eventually figured I’d rather be at home and get some work done, instead of hanging around at the airport,” he said. “So I cancelled my flight ticket and booked a ticket on a night bus to Kerala instead.”
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
