Communal incidents are on the rise in poll-bound Karnataka’s coastal belt.
The arrival of monsoon has brought little respite to coastal Karnataka, as it continues to simmer with communal tension. With Karnataka preparing to go to the polls in early 2018, communal incidents have already claimed two lives in Dakshina Kannada district.
For more than 50 days, prohibitory orders were imposed on Bantwal, Puttur, Belthangady and Sullia taluks in the district. The orders are still in place in Bantwal. However, on July 7, the saffron brigade carried out a massive solidarity march in Bantwal, demanding the arrest of RSS worker Sharath Madivala’s killers. BJP MPs Shobha Karandlaje and Nalin Kumar Kateel, RSS strongman Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat and Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar led the march. Madivala, 28, who ran a laundry service, was stabbed by bike borne men on July 4. He died in a private hospital three days later. The police suspect it to be a “retaliation” for the killing of Social Democratic Party of India [SDPI] leader Mohammed Ashraf Kalai, 35. He was hacked to death by unidentified persons at Benjanapadavu in Bantwal on June 21.
But, the communal cauldron had been heating up since May. On May 26, three Muslim youths were allegedly attacked in Kalladka in Bantwal, which led to a major clash between the two communities on June 13. The situation turned tense after a video clipping of Forest Minister B. Ramanath Rai, who is in charge of the district, asking the superintendent of police to arrest Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat was widely circulated.
Following the July 7 march, at least 1,000 people, including BJP MPs and Bhat, were booked under IPC sections 143 (for unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). What has angered the saffron brigade is that the police filed cases against its leaders, but didn’t take any action against those who pelted stones at Madivala’s funeral cortège on July 8.
This story is from the August 06, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 06, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Divides And Dividends
Contrasting narratives on the scrapping of Article 370 define the elections in Jammu and Kashmir
Playing it cool
Everybody knows what 420 means in the Indian context. But in American parlance it is something very different: four-twenty or 4/20 or April 20 denotes cannabis celebration; its cultural references are rooted in the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s.
The heroine's new clothes
Who else but Sanjay Leela Bhansali could bring on a wardrobe reset like the one in his just-dropped period piece—an eight-part Netflix series called Heeramandi?
AI & I
Through her book Code Dependent—shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction—Madhumita Murgia gives voice to the voiceless multitudes impacted by artificial intelligence
Untold tales from war
Camouflaged is a collection of 10 deeply researched stories, ranging from the world wars to the 26/11 terror attacks
Hair force
Sheetal Mallar, in her photobook Braided, uses hair as a metaphor to tell a story that is personal yet universal
THE WHITE TIGER GAVE ME CONFIDENCE IN MY ABILITIES
The first time Adarsh Gourav made an impression was in Ramin Bahrani's 2021 film The White Tiger, a gripping adaptation of Aravind Adiga's Booker-winning novel.
The art of political protest
The past doesn’t always remain in the past. Sometimes, it emerges in the present, reminding us about the universality and repetitiveness of the human experience. Berlin’s George Grosz Museum, a tiny gem, is a startling reminder that modern political and social ills are not modern. Grosz lived through World Wars I and II, shining a torch into the heart of darkness in high-ranking men and women—who were complicit in the collapse of the world as they knew it.
REFUELLING DYING SATELLITES
A Chennai company is making waves in the world of space tech startups
DIVERSITY IN UNITY
THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY IN THE US HAS SEVERAL THINGS IN COMMON, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS, THERE ARE WIDELY DIFFERING OPINIONS AND FEELINGS