The Mangaluru police successfully prevented the ‘Mangaluru Chalo’ bike rally of the BJP youth wing from entering the coastal city on Thursday.
The rally from Hubballi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga was to culminate in Mangaluru on Thursday. Imposing a ban on organising rallies, processions and padayatras in Dakshina Kannada till midnight of September 8, the government did not allow the youth wing’s rally to enter the district. Activists were also not allowed to reach Mangaluru on bikes from different parts of the district.
However, a large number of activists who reached the city using other vehicles, staged a protest in the busy Ambedkar Circle in the heart of the city, and 1.5 k.m. from the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
After B.S. Yeddyurappa, president of the BJP State unit, Pratap Simha, State president of its youth wing, and other leaders addressed the gathering, the police detained them. Party leaders K.S. Eshwarappa, Jagadeesh Shettar, R. Ashok, Pralhad Joshi, Aravind Limbavali, Shobha Karandlaje and Nalin Kumar Kateel were also detained and released later.
Defying the ban, some activists marched to the office of the Deputy Commissioner to lay siege to it. But, they were thwarted by the police.
The police had made elaborate security arrangements in the city to prevent any untoward incident. Though they had permitted the BJP to hold a public meeting at Nehru Maidan, close to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, the party workers chose to hold the protest at the Ambedkar Circle.
A number of party workers were taken to Gorakshanath Hall in Kadri. They were released later. According to the police, 850 persons were detained under the Karnataka Police Act, and released later.
The rally was organised following the call by BJP national president Amit Shah to intensify protests against the Congress-led State government. The main demand was a ban on the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) and the Popular Front of India (PFI) as the party alleged that their activists were responsible for the murders of Hindu activists in the State in the last four years. The Yuva Morcha also sought the resignation of B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, alleging that he had failed to control the law and order situation, resulting in the murder of RSS activist Sharath Madiwala on July 4.
