Hundreds of policemen and other security forces on Tuesday stood guard at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park to ensure the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not succeed in carrying out its controversial “Mangalore Chalo” bike rally.
This, after the BJP was denied permission by the local police to carry on with its protest plans, despite senior leaders of the party on Monday meeting newly appointed home minister Ramalinga Reddy to seek requisite permissions to carry out the rally.
The Bengaluru police put in place prohibitory orders late on Monday, while Mangalore police have denied permission to hold the rally.
“We have denied permission for Mangalore Chalo rally,” Hanumantharaya, deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Mangalore, told Mint on Monday.
He said that the police would seal its check posts and not allow anyone who is part of the protest to enter the city.
The BJP, however, said it will continue its protest as planned, setting off on a collision course with the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the state.
The Mangalore police also issued a statement on Monday, stating that due to the sensitive nature of the district and in the light of recent incidents, permission has been denied to ensure peace in the city.
The rally, organised by the Yuva Morcha of the party, will see workers ride two-wheelers from across the state to Mangalore. It will pose the first major challenge to Reddy who took over as home minister on Friday. The rally was expected to culminate in Mangalore on Thursday.
“This is an undeclared emergency,” R. Ashok, a senior BJP leader and former Karnataka home minister, said on Monday. He said that Siddaramaiah was displaying “(Adolf) Hitler’s mentality” to stop the BJP from carrying out its protests against the recent attacks and killings of its party members across the state.
Though relatively calm compared to the last few months, Mangalore and coastal districts—the hotbed of communal tensions and clashes—of Karnataka have become a battlefield between organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal, Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), among others, leaving a bloody trail of victims on either side.
“Nearly 18 of our workers (BJP/right wing organisations) have been murdered and there are daily attacks on them as well across the state,” Jagadish Shettar, leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly and former chief minister of Karnataka, said on Monday, before he met the home minister.
The BJP’s insistence on carrying out its protest as planned stems from the fact that its senior leadership was pulled up by its national president Amit Shah last month for not being able to capitalise on issues to corner the Congress government ahead of next year’s polls.
Though the rally was originally planned to protest against the likely appointment of state forest minister B. Ramanath Rai as the home minister, the BJP has now said that it is to create awareness on the failings of law and order in the state leading to more of its workers being attacked every day.
The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka has downplayed the allegations, stating that they have no issue with the proposed protest but were worried about the trouble it may cause to the public.
Shettar said that the chief minister and home minister would be responsible if any untoward incident, obstructing or arresting its workers took place.
“They have asked for permissions. The local DCP/SP and others have sought some clarifications on how many people will participate and other details. If all of it is provided, necessary permissions will be given,” Reddy had said early on Monday.
