Communal Incidents Are On The Rise In The Coastal Belt

Communal incidents are on the rise in poll-bound Karnataka’s coastal belt.

- Prathima Nandakumar

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.