Displaying ’empty trunk’, Tejasvi Surya detained during protest in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: BJP Yuva Morcha National President and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya staged a protest at a Metro station in Bengaluru on Monday against the recent fare hike. Responding to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s remark that Surya is an “empty trunk”, the BJP MP carried an empty trunk during the protest and displayed a poster stating, “The Congress-led government is an empty trunk government.”
The poster also carried photographs of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar.
The protest was held at the R.V. Road Metro Station along with Jayanagara Assembly constituency MLA C.K. Rammurthy and BJP party workers. The police objected to the protest, leading to arguments between the police and Tejasvi Surya.
As the police took him into custody, Surya questioned the grounds of his detention, stating that it amounted to a breach of his privilege as a Member of Parliament.
He told the police that they would have to inform the Speaker of the Lok Sabha if he was to be detained. Surya was planning to travel by Metro, but the police denied him permission and took him into custody.
“I want to ask the police department: in their notice, they have stated that I should not stage a protest or dharna. I am not doing anything of that sort. I have brought an empty trunk and am travelling by Metro. The conditions of this notice do not apply to me. You should not make a preventive arrest and should allow me to travel by Metro,” Surya said.
He also questioned the state government over the police action. “I want to question the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and the government. I have gone to West Bengal, where the goons of the Trinamool Congress and their country bombs did not scare me from staging protests. Now they want to threaten me by issuing a police notice. We are not cowards who will be scared by such notices. This agitation will continue,” he said.
The police maintained that Surya was carrying a trunk with a poster against the Congress-led government and that, as per a High Court order, protests are not permitted anywhere in Bengaluru except at Freedom Park.
BJP MLA C.K. Rammurthy said that MPs Tejasvi Surya and P.C. Mohan had spoken to the Union Minister regarding the issue and that the matter had been put on hold. “Our objective is that the Fare Fixation Committee should be changed, and a fresh proposal should be sent. Instead, the state government is pushing ahead with the fare hike,” he said.
Referring to Deputy CM Shivakumar’s remark, Rammurthy said the allegation that Tejasvi Surya is an “empty trunk” is baseless. “In this background, we are protesting with an empty trunk. Across the country, Metro fares have not been increased anywhere. In Bengaluru, Metro fares have been hiked by up to 80 per cent. The state government is responsible. If the price hike had been implemented across the country, the Centre could have been blamed,” he stated.
He further said that the hike has been implemented only in Bengaluru and that the state government is responsible for the burden on commuters. “Passengers, mostly from the middle class and students, are being affected. Fares have increased by up to Rs 50, forcing people to spend nearly Rs 300 per day to travel by Metro,” Rammurthy said.
It may be noted that on Saturday, Tejasvi Surya announced that following discussions with Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the proposed Bengaluru Metro fare hike has been temporarily suspended. He stated that he had sought the Union Minister’s immediate intervention regarding the fare increase scheduled to take effect on February 9.
