by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore

Mysore, Mar 13: All Karnataka Catholic Christians Kannada Sangha General Secretary Raphael Raj today urged the Government to withdraw cases filed against Sangha members three years ago during a protest against the appointment of a non-Kannadiga Bishop in Mysore.

Addressing a press conference at Pathrakarthara Bhavan here, he said that the Lashkar Police had arrested 86 Kannada Catholics including 36 women when they were marching towards the Bishop's House on Mar. 25 in 2003 on charges of causing disturbances. 20 of the arrested were from Mysore and the remaining were from Dornahalli in K.R. Nagar taluk.

The Kannada Catholics are frequenting the JMFC Court in Mysore whenever summons are issued.

They appeared before the Court today and the judge adjourned the hearing to Mar. 27.

Raphael Raj urged the Government to withdraw the cases as travelling to Mysore from Dornahalli had become a mental torture for the Kannada Catholics.

Classical tag

He said the Sangha had urged the Central Government to accord classical language status to Kannada. He alleged that by giving classical status to Tamil, the Central Government had adopted a 'divide and rule' policy.

The Centre is dragging its feet on the issue of giving classical tag for Kannada, which has over thousand years of history and a rich heritage. A signature campaign of priests, litterateurs and prominent citizens will be launched by this month-end and a memorandum would be sent to the Prime Minister, he said.

City Sangha President Rayappa, General Secretary Philomena Raj, Vice-President Francis and Treasurer J. Rayappa were present.