New Delhi
7 April 2006
On the birth anniversary of General KS Thimayya, the Codava
community of Karnataka on Friday held a demonstration in New Delhi to demand a
Codava Land Autonomous Council as recommended by the Constitution Review
Commission chaired by Justice Venkatachallaiah.
On the occasion, Codavas and Codavathies (Codava ladies) dressed in their traditional
impressive and eye-catching attire, accoutrements and jewellery, gathered near Jantar
Mantar to raise their demands. They also gave representations to Union Coal Minister
Shibu Soren, the National Minorities Commission and others in Delhi.
The Codava community has given the nation two chiefs of the Indian Army since
Independence -- General Thimayya and Field Marshal KM Cariappa. The Codavas have
been continuing a peaceful movement for their political ethno-tribal identity for some
years now.
The Satyagraha in Delhi followed the resolutions unanimously adopted during a
convention held under the auspices of the Codava National Council (CNC), on Codava
National Day (21 November) last year, at Madikeri. An estimated two lakh Codavas live
in south-western Karnataka.
"We are fighting for autonomous homeland as recommended by the Constitution Review
Commission. We are a different race with distinct language, culture and customs," Mr NU
Nachappa, Secretary General of Codava National Council said. "We have no protection
in Karnataka," he claimed.
Mr Nachappa observed that the Codavas lived in a state of their own till 1956 when the
area was amalgated in the Karnataka state following the States Reorganisation Act of
1956 and the Seventh Constitutional Amendment.
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