Two former Chief Ministers of Karnataka, H.D. Kumaraswamy and Siddarmaiah, have condemned the alleged police high-handedness in the violence that broke out in Mangaluru on Thursday, citing a footage that they showed as testimony to it. Two people lost their lives in the violence that broke out following protests against CAA on Wednesday.
In one of the series of tweets he put out, Mr. Kumaraswamy tagged a video footage that shows a policeman, on the streets of Mangaluru, expressing regret that ‘none had died so far even though bullets were fired.’
In his tweet, Mr. Kumaraswamy said it shows that the government had stood behind the police in use of force and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa should take responsibility for it.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “I condemn this inhuman act of the police and the attitude of the CM government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are directly responsible for this.
“The CM had directed the police not to resort to lathi-charge. But the police have fired. This shows either they had instructions to do so or they have defied the CM’s directions,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah showed the same footage and said, “What does this indicate? That the police has permission to fire at will?”
Coming down heavily on the government for imposing Section 144 in the State, he said, “This is nothing but an undeclared emergency. The whole issue has been taken up now to mislead the people and divert their attention from burning issues such as joblessness, economic slow down and poverty.”
Mr Siddaramaiah said he will leave for Mangaluru in a while. A delegation of Congress leaders led by former speaker K. R Ramesh Kumar has already left for Mangaluru. “I am going to Mangaluru as a people”a representative. Will meet the families of the innocent victims of police firing and tell them that we ar with them”, he said.
On the BJP blaming former minister U T Khader for the violence in Mangaluru, he said, “Not Khader, but Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah are responsible for this.”
