KRV and some recent media reports

Reproduced below is the full text of the article that has appeared in today's TOI (page4):

Even Lord Sri Rama will be ashamed to know the act carried out by Sri Rama Sene. If it (Sene) is concerned about women, let them build toilets in rural areas, where women till today have to wait for sunset to answer nature’s call...’’ was the advice of Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha president Vatal Nagaraj.

Like him, others have slammed Sene’s hooliganism and the list is growing. Pro-Kannada organizations have joined this category to totally condemn the incident, and most have termed it barbaric.

Most vocal was Vatal, who held a protest in the city on Wednesday to condemn the incident in Mangalore. "It is inhuman. Not even animals will indulge in such barbaric behaviour. Our culture respects women. I am afraid that if the government fails to put the brakes, we will surely head towards Talibalization. The situation may arise where citizens have to take permission from SRS to conduct weddings...’’

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike state chief T A Narayana Gowda said "I want to know why they attacked women in the name of culture. If it feels girls were indulging in ‘obscene’ acts, there are various forums to take up the issue’’ he said.

Dismissing allegations that KRV was involved in a few attacks on late-night parties in Magadi and a star hotel in Bangalore, Gowda said the Vedike would not encourage such acts. "These (parties) are purely personal issues’’

Jai Karnataka, another pro-Kannada organization, came down heavily on the attack. "If the pub-going culture is wrong, the girls’ parents will question them. Who are these people to attack women?" founder-president N Muthappa Rai said.

Manjunath Deva and Kannada Somu, Kannada Jagruti Vedike’s president and general secretary, echoed similar views.
    
Former MLA and general secretary of Vishwa Kannadigara Vedike P S Prakash also expressed anguish. "We respect and love our culture and tradition. But beating women in public is not acceptable’’.

This outlook is indeed refreshing. If they are beginning to talk this language, I would also like to jion the dialogue with them. Meanwhile, can we now expect these organisations to take the next step towards making positive contributions to the society at large. To begin with, how about  
1) demanding display of vehicle registration number boards strictly as per the M V Act in view of the increasing deteriorating security scenario?
2) like-wise, demanding display of BMTC's destination boards in English also, in the interests of visitors to the city, as also in the overall interest of the BMTC itself?
3) and, quite like the DMK did in Chennai, during the mayorship of Stalin, dismantling all the flag-poles and pedestals erected on footpaths all across the city?

These are the areas where Karnataka needs "rakshane'" more urgently. When I raised these questions earlier, I didn't get a response.

Muralidhar Rao