Members of the pro-Kannada activist organisation Karnataka Rakshana Vedika were arrested on Wednesday after vandalising some establishments in Bengaluru and demanding that Kannada nameplates be installed in accordance with local authority norms. Several footage of their rampaging around the streets of Bengaluru in front of the Phoenix Mall of Asia went viral. Karnataka Rakshana Vedika president TN Narayan Gowda claimed his group held a protest march regarding the government's 60% Kannada on signboard regulation. Some social media postings stated that nameplates, in addition to English, had been vandalised.

What exactly is the 60% Kannada rule?

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has enacted a law requiring all commercial enterprises to display 60% of their signage in Kannada. A deadline of February 28 has been set, after which the stores will be shuttered and their trading licences will be suspended.

On Wednesday, the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry stated that the government should not act before the deadline. The federation stated that it will request that all of its members respect the guideline, but that the government should not take any action against enterprises before the deadline. Many institutions were unaware that the 60% requirement was a BBMP mandate, not a demand from some fringe groups.

Narayan Gowda says "Move to other states''

Karnataka TN Rakshana Vedika President Narayan Gowda suggested that businesses that do not want Kannada names on their signboards can leave Karnataka.  "People from various states are doing business in Bangalore. But they don't put Kannada nameplates on their shops. They are only putting up the nameplates of their shops in English. If they want to stay back in Bangalore then they have to put nameplates on their shops or else they have to move from Karnataka to other states."

"We told them to put a nameplate but Mall of Asia (Bangalore) did not bother and has not put a Kannada nameplate so we will fight against this. Today police are providing full protection to the Mall of Asia (Bengaluru), but tomorrow who will provide protection? Tomorrow again our activists will protest, till our demand is fulfilled," Narayan Gowda added.

Siddaramaiah threatens punishment

After the pro-Kannada demonstrators went on the rampage, chief minister Siddaramaiah declared, "I don't know what they (the protestors) are doing. I have got information that Narayana Gowda is protesting about having Kannada name boards. We will take action against those who took the law into their own hands and went against the law."

This is not the United Kingdom: Pralhad Joshi remains involved in the BJP-Congress battle over the Bengaluru rampage.

While Karnataka BJP officials criticised the Congress administration for inciting the Kannadiga vs. non-Kannadiga squabble in Bengaluru, Union minister and Karnataka MP Pralhad Joshi supported the 60% Kannada demand and questioned why institutions do not want signage.

"Everybody should be able to read the signs and not everyone can read English. What is the harm in writing in Kannada as well as in English or another language, like Hindi? This is not England," he stated.

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