Bangalore: The coalition government in Karnataka is bending over backwards to favour communal forces and the rich and the powerful, according to the writer Kamala Hampana.

Speaking at a dharna organised by the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar vaada) on the 116th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar demanding a retrial in the Kambalapalli Dalit massacre case, she said there had been no let-up in violence against Dalits in the State. She cited an incident in T. Shettihalli near Srirangapatna on Friday where a group of Dalit boys were allegedly beaten up for bathing in an irrigation canal. She called upon writers in the State to lend their voice to the cause of Dalits.

M.V. Narasimhiah, AHINDA leader, said the Budget showed the communal colours of the Government in the way a major chunk of money was allocated to religious institutions. He demanded that the Government bring out a White Paper on the money spent on social welfare of Dalits.

Mavalli Shankar, State convener of the DSS (A) warned Dalit activists against communal forces trying to appropriate their cause through events such as the Hindu Samajotsava.

All acquitted

He recalled the sequence of events after the killing of seven Dalits at Kambalapalli in 2000 and the trial that lasted six years, culminating in the acquittal of all the accused. When Dalit leaders met the then Home Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, immediately after the incident and sought a CBI inquiry, he had assured them that the State police would conduct a fair investigation and bring the culprits to book. But what followed were a series of manipulations by "upper caste" interest groups, alleged Mr. Shankar. The judge who was handling the case, known for his progressive concerns, was transferred and dismissed on false charges. The Special Public Prosecutor was never given cooperation, he said.

Though the demand for reservation in the judiciary had been seen as a sacrilege by the legal community, the Kambalapalli verdict underlined the need for fair representation in every aspect of democracy, Mr. Shankar said.

The former chairman of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission Ravivarma Kumar, Indira Krishnappa of B. Krishnappa Trust and several Dalit leaders from Bangalore urban and Bangalore Rural districts spoke at the dharna.

Memo submitted

Earlier, Dalit leaders met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy when he arrived at the Vidhana Soudha to garland the statue of Ambedkar and gave a memorandum seeking a retrial in the case.

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