Bengaluru politics. The BJP seems to be in no mood to let pass Tuesday night's violence in Bengaluru by members of a community over a controversial social media post. Union Minister Prahlad Joshi speaks to the Karnataka Home Minister demanding "stern actions" be taken against those responsible so that they don't "dare to repeat" what happened.
Condemning the violence and vandalism, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister said: “Some section of people, under pretext of showing disrespect of some religion, took law into their hands. This can’t be tolerated. I had a detailed discussion with the honourable Home Minister of Karnataka. I had requested and urged him to take stern actions against the culprits and actions should be such that nobody should dare to repeat such actions in future in any part of Karnataka or the country.”
At least three people died and several others were injured in the violence and arson that resulted in parts of east Bengaluru after the inflammatory social media post. Around 60 police personnel sustained injuries in stone pelting by protesters and police had to open fire in order to bring the situation under control.
Over 100 rioters have been arrested, police said on Wednesday.
In a stern message to the perpetrators, Joshi, who hails from the state, said: “No one is above law, everybody should understand.” He added that if anyone’s feelings are hurt, they have recourse to legal means. “He can go and file a police complaint. No such actions, at any time, is acceptable. I strongly condemn and I also ask the concerned religious leaders also to condemn this,” he added.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the city while curfew was clamped in the D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli police station limits, with the two police stations being targets of the violence. Property of Akanda Srinivas Murthy, the Congress legislator from Pulakeshi Nagar constituency, was attacked and vandalised while several police vehicles were also damaged.
A mob had also gathered outside Congress legislator’s house where they shouted slogans and demanded arrest of Naveen, who is related to Murthy, and had allegedly posted the derogatory remarks on social media.
Bengaluru South Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya advised Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to go the Yogi Adityanath way in confiscating the rioters’ properties to compensate for the loss to public property.
“I request Yediyurappa to confiscate and attach the properties of the rioters and compensate the losses to public property in the same way as the Adityanath government did in Uttar Pradesh,” the BJP MP said.
In the wake of the riots, arson and vandalism by some people on Tuesday night, he added that Bengaluru is known for its peaceful atmosphere.
“Bengaluru is known for its peace and harmonious society. We must protect this strength of our city at all costs,” said Surya.
The young parliamentarian attacked a couple of state Congress politicians for their statements.
He criticized former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao over his statement on the riots.
“Look at how Miya Gundu Rao is cleverly blaming the victims and sparing the perpetrators. Your stunning silence in not condemning Muslim rioters exposes how your party is completely complicit with Jihadi elements,” said Surya.
Rao alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary B. L. Santosh was using the Bengaluru riots to gain political mileage.
Rao said, “His (Santosh’s) statement is a crude attempt to communalise the issue, aimed at dividing on caste lines. Pathetic and deplorable. That’s what BJP and RSS do best, play politics with dead bodies.”
Surya did not spare former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah either.
Siddaramaiah condemned both the violent riots at Kaval Byrsandra and also the social media post which triggered the riot. He requested both the communities to stay calm and maintain peace.
Reacting to the statement from Siddaramaiah, Surya said, “This is the classic spin of secularists — to falsely equate two disproportionate events. By doing so, they try to exonerate perpetrators of violence, justify their acts as warranted and most importantly, blame alleged instigators for the mishap. The script has gotten stale, Sir”.
Three people died in police firing, 60 policemen were injured and several vehicles were set ablaze in Bengaluru on Tuesday night after Congress MLA Akanda Srinivas Murthya’s nephew Naveen posted a derogatory message on social media. He has since been arrested.
A day after the attack on its party MLA in Bengaluru, the Congress has condemned the incident and has questioned the role of the police in controlling the riots in which three persons died.
Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in a statement on Wednesday said, “Riots and arson are reprehensible, condemnable and unacceptable, and it is a complete failure of the law and order machinery and rule of law.”
Congress raised questions about the role of the police and the Yediyurappa government. Surjewala said, “Was the Yediyurappa government sleeping or waiting for violence to happen. And, why did the police not act in time? Who is responsible for the three deaths?”
The statement comes after the BJP leaders questioned the silence of the Congress on the whole incident, which occurred on Tuesday in which the house of the Congress MLA was attacked by a mob. (IANS)