Bangalore: Medical students stage fast

Expressing solidarity with their counterparts in Delhi, undergraduate medical students from a government medical college in Bangalore on Friday staged a daylong fast, protesting against the proposed move to increase other backward quotas in educational institutions.

The protest will gain momentum on Saturday when students from other government and private medical colleges in the state are likely join them in their march to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to Governor T N Chaturvedi on the issue, President of Junior Doctors Association, Bangalore Medical College, Dr Venugopal told PTI on Friday.

While undergraduate students of Bangalore Medical College have been boycotting classes since Thursday, the interns and post-graduate students of the college have been on "silent protest, wearing black badges while at work", he said.

"Our protest is not only against reservation but also the inhuman treatment meted out to medical students while they were on their way to Human Resource Development minister Arjun Singh's residence in Delhi to register their protest," Venugopal said.

He said "in fact, some medical students belonging to OBC and SC, ST have themselves expressed their dissent on the issue, saying they do not want to be divided on the basis of caste and are qualified and capable to face competition," Venugopal said.