The long saga of Karnataka being the experimental state for BJP in South India has come true in the year 2006, when for the first time JDS +BJP formed the government in the state. Just after the government people said nothing will happen but they failed to understand that the BJP and its right wing groups own agenda was spreading across the state under our own nose. The result has just started to arrive in different forms if not in the true sense it’s on the way and its coming, waiting for us to have surprise!
The impact of formation of BJP government is in Karnataka in 2 different ways.
One is that the state from being secular has turned in to saffron and let unconstitutional bodies to come in to existence and gain more and more visibility and power even-though they have done un-constitutional act.
Two, to suppress any kind of resistance systematically towards the state, and ensure that no one raises their voice/dissent towards the state, and by suppressing the resistances infiltrate the non-secular idea in to force.
Its very interesting to see how the the BJP government manage to achieve/supported the first goal,
The very few first thing the BJP government has done is to promote its ideology and boost its activists to continue their activities in a big way is to ensure that there is no prosecution against their activists. As a result assembly note withdrawn 61 cases pending against, its activists for the offences like 153(a) 295, including section 307 of IPC, but no single cases have been withdrawn against the any other people except sang parivar groups, that to even there is a note from the DOP, POLICE that the cases should not been withdrawn.
Further it continued when there was an international level discussion was happening with respect to the famous Pub attack in Mangalore by the Srirama sene activists the government decided to withdrawn 11 cases in Chikmagalore dist alone in with the chief of Sriramasene Pramod Mutalik was involved in 3 cases of 153(a). Government instead of arresting the people instead of prosecuting the people went supporting the actions of these un-constitutional bodies which were gaining power in the state.
When the state refuses to prosecute the people on one side and decides to withdraw cases filed against them on the other side, this un-constitutional elements grow in full swing all across the state, many attack took place on the churches, many attack took place where the different religions boy and girls were meeting or traveling together, including the threat to everyday and the attack which took place on every day all across the state. Home minister being the head of the state police machinery always justified what the police did or what the organization like sang parivar did.
And when any one took complaints before the police in this regard were either sent back or cases were booked against the people who came to file a case for the attack which took place against them or in the fear in which they are living. In the Western region of the state its been the plight of minority groups people, who always got beaten by the sang parivar people and when they visit police station to file the cases the police have implicated in false cases against the people who came to file the cases and beaten and sent to jails.
If any one questions this kind of activities of the police they are also being booked in number of false case and sent to jails.
There are numbers of such examples we can give almost every day these incidents are being repeated in the state specially after the formation of the BJP government.
The un-constitutional elements are gaining more and more power in the state and they are being un questionable/ uncontrollable in the state. The government is boosting them by either not booking the cases against them or by withdrawing the cases filed against them or filing the false cases against the people whom.
We have seen how unconstitutional elements have taken over the state day after day especially after this government has come into existence. This being one part, the other major impact on this instant government or earlier coalition governments has been the number of resistance movements that have existed in the state on which the state has heavily cracked down upon and crushed them to such an extent that no one should ever raise their voice against the state in any passion. From 1990, we have seen a number of people’s movements which fought against the displacement, deforestation, mining, but that took a greater shift when the issue of the Naxal movement came to light in the year 2003, the year of the famous Iddu encounter. What happened subsequently was that in the existing democratic struggles a number of existing non violent struggles have been targeted in the name of crushing Naxalites and constantly read that these non violent struggles are the frontal organizations of the Naxal movement, and denied their very existence in fighting for the rights of the people under the constitution in a completely non violent manner.
More so, this kind of treatment further gets repressed by the very existence of this government because they have their own saffron agenda which was also opposed by the left extremist group. And with a constant threat towards saffronization, it was easy for the state to target people who raised their voice against the state, questioning the state saffronization. The State reacted against them by branding them as naxal sympathizers.
People like Vittal Hegde, the President of Kudremukha Virodhi Okkoota, have been targeted a number of times and booked in a number of false cases and harassed. We all know the involvement of Shringeri Mutt in right wing saffron organizations and the commitment which they have to them, and the power exercised by them which are questioned by people like Vittal Hegde, who stays in Shringeri and strongly criticizes the Hindutva Right wing forces and is being targeted by the Right wing as well as the police with clear instructions from the State. The other known person, Mariappa was constantly harassed. He was picked up on 6th May but till date nobody knows whether he is alive or dead. When their family members tried to contact the police, neither were given any information nor was a case of kidnapping/missing person booked.
At this juncture, it is important to also see the number of naxals arrested by the Chickmagalur and Udupi Police. The courts have discharged some of the cases against these people and in some of the cases they have been acquitted with a trial. This being a big threat the Police department and the Government has now started targeting the civilians and arresting each one of them as supporters of naxalites. Last month, the Chickmagalur district alone has seen 40+ such arrests. This is also specifically after a Chandrashekar was picked up on 14th April 2009 by Mudigere Police and his whereabouts were not known. When the police refused to give any information, people came out on the streets to protest and tried submitting a memorandum to the DC and SP. The DC refused to accept any such memorandum but orally assured that he will direct the SP to investigate into this issue. However, the SP refused to confirm that such an arrest had happened. Only when people decided to move an Habeas Corpus before the High Court, was Chandrashekar produced before the Magistrate Home Office in the late night on 16th April. Getting hanger on such pressure put on the District Administration by hundreds of people, now the Police are concentrating on targeting each one of them and trying to book them in false cases. So far, the Shringeri Police have arrested 10 civilians. People belonging to Matohalli village area are saying that these people are supplying food and other materials to the Naxals. The Mudigere Police also arrested four quarry workers saying that they were supplying arms and ammunition to the naxal outfits.
In the year 2008, almost all the men in the village Heberi were arrested and falsely implicated and they are still running to the courts. On the other side, a number of students and civil rights activists were also arrested by Shimoga Police saying that they were raising funds for the naxal outfits and booked them in a number of cases to ensure that they will not be released easily.
The police are also threatening the villagers in the surrounding areas that they should not raise their voice or question any arrest or detention carried out by the police and that no one should offer sureties before the court for any such arrest if bail is granted by the court. They are also threatening them that in case they go to the press about the existing situation, they will be arrested as well.
What is more shocking is the attack on advocates last year at Sirimane Falls and the response provided by the Home Minister was that when such a situation can exist towards the community which defends constitutional beliefs then what will be the normal citizen’s plight. Till date even after initiating complaints even though the police recognized the occurrence of such untoward incidents but they refused to hold the Police responsible for such untoward incidents and take appropriate action accordingly. If this is the case of the advocates then what will be the common citizen’s status?
It is also pertinent to note what happened to Advocate Naushad in Mangalore who was killed in Mangalore. Advocate Naushad was the only lawyer in Mangalore who took up controversial cases in which police encounters were involved where he has alleged in the court that accused would be killed in the name of an encounter by the police where they actually did happen in the past case. He had strongly objected to the granting of police custody in another case, and got shot dead the same evening. A very senior member of the Bar having 55 years of practice in the bar made a direct allegation that the Police were involved in his killing and filed a complaint against the police officers. However, the state has refused to comment on this issue. At least as a policy it would have been appropriate for the Government to hand over the investigation to the CBI instead of the State Police even when such a serious allegation was made on them. Even after such a huge protest, the Government continued to be silent and made no comments on it.
It is equally important for us to remember what happened to Proff Hassan Mansoor. He is and his work in the sector of Human rights in Karnataka, when he filed a case before the State Human Rights Forum for alleged harassment to the minority community in Bangalore the state human rights has directed the police to file response for which out city commissioner who was in state intelligence states
Sri Hassan Mansor is basically a teacher who later become the president of People’s Union of Civil Liberty (PUCL) which is a front organization of the left wing extremist (LWE) and the present CPI (Maoist) party. Earlier, he was also associated with the Peoples war group (PWG) a militia wing of LWE. After his retirement in 1991, he is residing at # 46, wellington street, Richmond town. Bangalore city and actively associated with the left wing extremism (LWE) activist.Sri Hassan Mansorr is a converted Muslim.
What shows from these kind of responses by the police department is that, if any tried to raise their voice against the State or try question the authority they will brand them as so on so and en shore that he /she will be isolated, branded and implicated in these factions.
Every one of us know what PUCL stands for and every one of us also know what Porf. Mansoor stands for we don’t need any character certificate from state or the Police Agencies about who. What is important for us also in if the state of Prof. Mansoor is like this and what will be the ordinary citizen and the implication of an ordinary citizen for raising the voice against the state.
What is clear is that on one hand there is a unconstitutional body taking over the State’s functions and on the other hand is the State refusing to respect the Constitution by being unconstitutional and trying to saffronize the entire state, thereby destroying any resistance which exists. Binayak Sen in one such example in Chattisgarh, a huge public figure sent behind bars for raising his voice against the State’s atrocities and in Karnataka this is being repeated in a number of such incidents including killing of people either by state directly or by sponsoring/supporting indirectly in killing the people and destroying the resistance by killing the other voices that exist. It is high time that we spread awareness across as to what is happening locally and relate these issues nationally by fighting against this kind of terrorism brought by the state.
The kind of resistance which middle class people in city like Bangalore have shown when the issue of moral policing came in to question in big way. Specially people like Mutalik and Home Minister Mr Acharya making nonsensical statement on these issue is what reminds and gives strength and there are many things for us to learn from them as well.
One section of people thinking of the kind of protest of Pink Cheddi campaign, Defend the right to love, and subsequently formation of Fearless Karnataka its equally important of the kind of the people who came out of their houses to protest and the demonstration which took place infront of Police commissioner of Bangalore and the director general of police Karntaka is such a spontaneous and encouraraging enough for number of us and a reare hope of resistance in a different.
Byatha N Jagadeesha
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