Even as those injured in the police lathi-charge and mob fury are recovering in the Chikmagalur district hospital, politicians are have started attributing political motives to the alleged desecration of a religious place, leading to tension on Saturday.
While the ruling party blamed the alleged inappropriate action of the BJP government during such incidents in the last five years for the incident, BJP MLA representing Chikmagalur saw a political conspiracy to tarnish him. However, both of them add that they do not want to politicise the incident.
Lok Sabha member K. Jayaprakash Hegde, who represents Udupi-Chikmagalur, told presspersons here on Sunday that several such incidents had happened in the last five years. Those in power then failed to take appropriate action to prevent such instances from repeating, he said.
“As a result of their failure, this incident happened on Saturday. The Congress government will take strict action to ensure harmony in the town. Abhay Chandra Jain, Minister for Fisheries and Youth Services and Sports, who is in-charge of the district, and I will meet the Chief Minister and share the information we have collected after interacting with different groups and the district administration,” he said.
C.T. Ravi, Chikmagalur MLA, who attended a peace committee meeting at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Saturday, suspected a political conspiracy behind the incident. “There is a conspiracy to defame me,” he said.
Speaking to The Hindu on Sunday, he said that the police would have traced the perpetrators who allegedly desecrated the religious place if they had acted swiftly.
“If the police had taken a dog squad soon after the incident, they could have obtained clues about the perpetrators. That was not done. On the other hand, some people are trying to gain political mileage through this incident. Within minutes after the incident, rumours started doing the rounds. I too got many phone calls asking if I were hurt in the incident. I demand that the police arrest those who desecrated the religious place at the earliest so that a strong message is given to the public,” he said.
Arrests yet to be madeChikmagalur police have not arrested any person in connection with the incident. Mr. Jain said that the police were making efforts to arrest those who allegedly desecrated the religious place. “The law will take its own course in the case of the perpetrators of the crime. The miscreants should understand that such instances would spoil the serenity of the place and disturb people’s lives,” he said.
He said that Abhishek Goyal, Superintendent of Police, who was on leave, had been asked to return to work. Till he returns, Boralingaiah, Superintendent of Police of Udupi, would hold charge in Chikmagalur.
M.N. Reddy, Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), and Prathap Reddy, Inspector-General of Police (Western Range), are camping in the town.
AppealThe former Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief has appealed to people to maintain calm. Speaking over telephone, Mr. Sharief cautioned people against falling prey to machinations of miscreants.