Mangaluru: Though quite a few muscular portfolios in the state cabinet are held by ministers who hail from the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district, the heavyweights’ muscles appear to be in a bad squeeze, over controlling the spiking communal violence in the district.
Adding fear to the already prevailing insecurity of Muslim minorities, elected representatives from the district paid very little attention to the fresh attacks that targeted a mosque and a community hall at Bajpe, on the outskirts of Mangalore. The Mosque and a community hall were stoned by unidentified miscreants late in the night on Sunday, Feb 15, between 2 am and 5 am.
The police commissioner, S Murugan, said investigation was on, and the police were confident of nabbing the miscreants. The commissioner denied the general perception existing within the public that increasing religious conflicts was due to the laxity of his department.
He opined that the reason for the ‘sharp increasing graph’ of violence could not be attributed to the police department alone. “I admit that we have problems too”, he said, but also pointed fingers at society at large for lacking awareness on vested interests fanning communal violence. Agreeing with the view that sometimes police succumb to political pressures, he stated police do their best to discharge their duties.
In Mangaluru, the Police Commissioner argued, the divide between Hindus and Muslims was large, and so, how can police be held responsible for the problem? “We have succeeded in bringing the culprits to the book following such occurrences, even invoking cases against hate mongers”, he averred.
“The responsibility lies with the people to ignore vested interests. Tranquility and peace can be achieved only if people become aware of reasons and repercussions of religious clashes”. He said that, after he took charge of Mangaluru, he started meeting leaders from conflicting groups and communities with the aim of thwarting possible conflicts between them.
The concerned authorities linked to the mosque alleged that, no elected representative found the time to either visit or phone after the incident. “We expected the elected representative of our constituency, Abhayachandra Jain to take stock of the situation,” said V Mohammed, president executive committee, Muhaiyaddeen Jumma Masjid, Bajpe. He said residents of the vicinity were miffed by the recent incident, but he strongly advised the aggrieved people to keep calm.
This was the second such incident experienced by the mosque and community hall. The police have so far, failed to nab the communal perpetrators of the 2006 attack. It may be recalled that, the district as a whole witnessed as many as 37 communal incidents in 2015 alone, of which many have yet to reach a logical conclusion.
Mohammed lamented, “The job of the elected representative was to bolster the confidence of the people in regard to their safety, which the Moodabidri MLA, Abhayachandra Jain, has, so far, failed to do”.
He hit out at all political leaders, both the BJP and Congress for misusing communal incidents for electoral benefits and indulging in political slugfests over such incidents. He also expressed the view, that the locals had lost hope on the police machinery after the perpetrators of the 2006 incident had succeeded in ducking the law. He demanded that the government safeguard minorities, who have constantly been a target.
Naming the representatives, he claimed the district in charge minister Ramanath Rai, health and family welfare minister U T Khader, MLA of Moodabidri Abhayachandra Jain did not bother to turn up.
Fisheries, Sports and Youth Services Minister Abhayachandra Jain speaking to Newskarnataka.com said he had sent the Assistant Commissioner of Police and Circle Inspector to the location. When quizzed on why he had not visited, he reiterated that, he had sent the concerned authorities.
U T Khader, when contacted on the issue, said that he had phoned the concerned officials to take immediate action, When quizzed on the escalating communal incidents, U T Khader argued “The government was doing its best to contain such untoward acts.” He had called the concerned authorities seeking an impartial probe into the attack, Khader reiterated.
The Minister, in his brief conversation with Newskarnataka.com admitted the arrest of RSS think tank and ideologue, Prabhakar Bhat would lead to law and order problems, as the cult Hindu figure enjoys a huge fan base in the district. “The arrest will be made at an appropriate time,” he said. He denied the allegation of the government tactically allowing communal clashes to unfold in the district to gather political points.
MLC Ivan, in the recently concluded assembly session, had raised the problem of shortage of police personnel, and pointed out in the upper house that Dakshina Kannada was a communally sensitive locality. He had strongly demanded in the assembly that the government fortify the police machinery in view of the 37 communal incidents reported.
However, when quizzed on how the the Congress manages to check such elements from fanning violence, he said that the Congress is at the forefront of dealing with such issues. Astonishingly however, he contradicted his own earlier statements, when he relegated the Mosque and community hall attack to the status of a petty issue. He said “such incidents happen here and there”.
The plight of the district has not changed in two long decades, even as both the Congress and BJP politicise such events for their electoral gains, said Democratic Youth Federation of India President Muneer Katipalla. The parties which ruled the district have created a vacuum in the district. He hit out at the ruling party for sympathizing with the RSS and its other off shoots just for the mere reason that culprits are Hindus. He also blamed the police for inadequate will to nab the culprits and prevent such episodes. He said, the left parties held series of protests in a bid to eliminate fringe elements, though cadres in the party were limited in numbers.
