The Congress on Saturday demanded an investigation into Mangaluru violence by a judge of either the High Court or the Supreme Court.
Addressing presspersons here, Ivan D’Souza, MLC, questioned why Kota Srinivasa Poojary, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, has not met the family members of two persons who died in police firing.
He said the government should reveal under which circumstances the police were made to fire on the crowd. It is because earlier Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had stated that he had not asked the police to either open fire on those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or to cane them.
The MLC said the root cause of the violence lied in the government imposing the prohibitory orders to “curb the democratic right of the people protesting against the CAA.” Mr. D’Souza said the State government was not responding to the feelings of people by not allowing them to hold protests against the CAA.
Taking objection to the police sending back a team of Congress leaders, including S.R. Patil, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, who had arrived from Bengaluru to Mangaluru International Airport on Friday, he said it amounted to curbing the rights of leaders under the democracy. The police have also denied entry to Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah to the city on Sunday. It was unfair, he said. Mr. D’Souza said Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai should resign and the Chief Minister should apologise over Mangaluru violence.
The MLC said the BJP government was projecting the CAA as its big achievement. But earlier the Congress government had given citizenship to Sri Lankan and Tamil refugees. It was a constant process happening since 1954. There was nothing new in it, he said.
K. Harish Kumar, MLC and president of the Dakshina Kannada Congress Committee, said the police had “murdered” two persons by opening fire. “It is a government-sponsored murder,” he alleged.
Denying entry to Mr. Siddaramaiah was anti-democratic, he said.
U.T. Khader, Mangaluru MLA and former Minister, said there was no clarity on the government’s stand on implementing the CAA in the State. The government should also make it clear as to who ordered the firing during violence on Thursday.
