ANGRY DOCTORS: Medical students and junior doctors protesting against the Government's move to increase reservation in medical institutions, in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: Over 100 students of medicine and engineering colleges on Sunday expressed solidarity with students in Mumbai and Delhi who are protesting against the Union Government's proposed move to introduce reservation for Other Backward Classes students in higher education by taking out a rally here. The police took eight students into custody and later released them.

It was around 10.30 a.m. that the protestors, under the banner of Youth for Equity, took out the rally from V.V. Puram College. Apart from medical and engineering college students, many software professionals took part in the rally. Sporting black strips around their arms and forehead, the students shouted slogans against the reservation policy and also against Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh.

The protestors walked almost three kilometres holding placards such as "Do not play with our future", "Merit on trial" and "Limit reservation to politics". They were vocal against Saturday's police action against students in Mumbai.

The rally culminated near Banappa Park as the protestors sat on the road there shouting slogans instead of going into the park, the place earmarked for the protest. "We cannot sit in a shade and fight this battle. We have to be on the road to make people aware of the facts related to the proposed policy," a student said.

The city police, which had made security arrangements, refused to allow the protestors to sit on the road stating that this would cause inconvenience to people and asked the protestors to move into the park. There were arguments between the protestors and police officers, including the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) G.B. Chebbi. The protestors agreed to move inside the park after the police told them that arrangements would be made for them to meet the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi.

The police then took five student representatives to the Governor. Before they could return, the protestors in the park became restless and they decided to go towards Mahatma Gandhi Road for staging a protest there. The police denied them permission as staging protests there is banned. Then, the police took the eight persons into custody and brought the situation under control. The eight were released an hour later after a case was registered against them.

The student representatives, who submitted a memorandum to the Governor, said the proposed 49.5 per cent reservation in IIMs, IITs and AIIMS would not benefit any section of society and would destroy these centres of excellence. "The Governor gave us a patient hearing for 15 minutes and agreed to our contention," Kumar Gaurav, a representative, said.

The protestors then decided to hold a protest on May 20 at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue.

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