2 min readBengaluruUpdated: Mar 22, 2026 08:10 PM IST
The Karnataka Reservation Protection Federation has announced a massive protest rally on March 24 at Freedom Park, Bengaluru, opposing the internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) being implemented in the state.
The federation objects to the Government’s categorisation of Scheduled Castes into the A, B, and C groups, based on which internal reservation was announced. Addressing a news conference on Sunday, Jagadguru Immadi Siddarameshwara Swami of the Bhovi Gurupeeta said that 59 SC communities, including Bhovi, Banjara, Korama, Koracha, and micro and nomadic groups, were being denied fair representation under the new internal reservation scheme.
Calling the internal reservation scheme unscientific, the federation demanded the formation of an expert committee. “It should have representation from all 101 SC communities, which is required to draft a fair internal reservation policy,” the seer said.
A special Cabinet meeting has been scheduled for March 27 to discuss issues related to internal reservation ahead of recruitment to over 56,000 posts. The implementation of the reservation based on the recommendations of the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission remains mired in controversy.
Last December, the Congress Government passed the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (Sub-Classification) Bill 2025, which provided legal backing to the division of the 17 per cent SC quota into three categories.
Under this, 16 SC Left communities got six per cent reservation under Category A, 19 SC Right communities got six per cent reservation under Category B, and 63 other SC communities got five per cent reservation under Category C. Apart from this, three non-categorised SC castes—Adi Andhra, Adi Dravida, and Adi Karnataka—will be eligible to opt for reservation under either Category A or Category B.
Jagadguru Immadi Siddarameshwara Swami alleged that the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission failed to correctly account for the population of smaller Scheduled Castes. Citing an example, he said that though the 2011 census recorded “lakhs of Bhovi people”, the commission’s report showed only a minimal increase in their population. He added that the report, based on which the Government announced the internal reservation, did not reflect the true condition of these communities.
