Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the stopping of three Dalit ministers by police at Mysuru Palace during the Nandi Dhwaja puja, after the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) accused the Congress government of insulting Dalit representatives and questioned its commitment to social justice.
Superintendent of Police C B Rishyanth, deployed for security at the celebrations, stopped ministers Shivaraj Tangadagi, P M Narendraswamy and K S Basavanthappa, who were following Shivakumar for the ritual preceding the Mysuru Dasara procession on Wednesday.
Shivakumar, however, intervened and allowed the ministers to enter.
Kannada and culture minister Tangadagi challenged the officer when he was stopped. “I am the Culture Minister,” he said before moving past the officer, according to a video of the confrontation that was widely shared.
Rishyanth subsequently stopped Narendraswamy and Basavanthappa. A video of the exchange circulated widely on social media.
The chief minister directed chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh to investigate the incident, identify the officers responsible and submit a report. He said action would follow against those found guilty.
In a statement, Shivakumar described the incident as “extremely serious” and the officials’ conduct as “condemnable”.
“I consider the incident where police officials prevented Ministers Shivaraj Tangadagi, P.M. Narendra Swamy, H.C. Balakrishna, and K.S. Basavanthappa from entering the puja premises during the Nandidhway Puja at the Mysore Palace premises to be extremely serious. The officials’ arrogant behaviour in denying entry even to ministers is condemnable. Immediate intervention was made, and arrangements were provided to allow the ministers to enter the puja premises,” he said.
He added that maintaining discipline while respecting elected representatives was every official’s responsibility and that the government would not tolerate overreach in the name of authority. The chief minister’s office (CMO) statement named four ministers as having been denied entry, although Balakrishna was not visible in the circulating video.
Basavanthappa said the ministers had not been informed of any restriction on their movement. “We would have known if there was any such protocol. There was no restriction on the movement of ministers. I do not know why we were stopped despite the officers knowing that we were ministers,” he told reporters.
The Opposition alleged that the ministers had been singled out because they were Dalits. Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy demanded to know whether police officers had been instructed to prevent their entry.
“Why was there an attempt to obstruct the entry of ministers Tangadagi, Narendraswamy and Basavanthappa? Was it solely because they are Dalits? Were there any such instructions to officers?” he asked.
He accused the Congress government of failing to practise the equality and social justice it advocates. “I have called this government anti-Dalit several times. There is suspicion in this incident too, as all three ministers were Dalits,” he said.
BJP leader R Ashoka also questioned whether the officer had acted on instructions from senior officials and demanded that Shivakumar take responsibility for the incident.
The JD(S), in a post on X, accused the Congress of using Dalits as a vote bank and humiliating them after coming to power. It asked why the ministers accompanying Shivakumar had been left behind rather than escorted into the venue.
“If ministers themselves are subjected to such treatment, what would be the plight of ordinary people under your administration? Is this your social justice? Is this your Ambedkarite ideology? Is this your faith in the Constitution written by him?” the party asked.
Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara cautioned against assigning a caste motive before the circumstances were established. He said the police might have been enforcing security restrictions at an event attended by large crowds.
Calling it “cheap thinking” to give such incidents a caste angle without knowing the facts, Parameshwara defended the possibility that officers were following instructions from their superiors.
“There may have been instructions that no one other than the chief minister should be allowed beyond a particular point. I do not have the exact details. But if the police acted on