The violence at D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli, which resulted in the death of three people in police firing on Tuesday, has led to a political slugfest between political parties.
Addressing a press meet in Hubballi, BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel said there seemed to be a “systematic conspiracy” behind the violence and organisations like Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) were involved in it.
He sought to know how in a quick succession of events, arms and petrol bombs landed in the hands of the protesters.
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SDPI, meanwhile, said it was unnecessarily being dragged in to “overshadow the failure of the police”. State president of the outfit Elyas Mohammed Thumbe said delay and neglect by the D.J. Halli police in taking action on the complaint against Naveen, a relative of Congress MLA R. Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy who had put up derogatory posts on Islam, had led to the situation going out of hand.
He said there were videos showing attempts by SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha and other party activists to pacify agitated people. “They did it before the police and Ulemas. But the police have now arrested Pasha and other activists for their alleged involvement in the violence,” he said.
Congress leaders, sayswhile condemning the incident, also blamed the police for being unable to act in time. The police have not only failed to protect the Congress MLA, whose house was set on fire, but also a police station, said KPCC President D.K. Shivakumar. “Entire system is responsible for this,” he said, also pointing to the derogatory post against Islam that is said to be a trigger for violence.
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Responding to the Congress in a tweet, BJP’s national general secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh asked of the Congress why it was hesitating to condemn “riots by minority groups” and failed to stand by its Dalit MLA.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA U.T. Khader said it appeared as though the BJP was the “godfather” of SDPI as every time there is a violence, the BJP leaders call for a ban on the organisation but never follow it through.
Cong. forms committee
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has constituted a six-member fact finding committee headed by former Deputy Chief Minister and former Home Minister G Parameshwara, MLA, to find out reasons for the violence. KPCC president D K Shivakumar chaired a meeting of the party’s City legislators at the party office and discussed the situation.