BENGALURU: The state has been put on alert following massive protests across the country, including in Delhi, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Saharanpur, Moradabad and Prayagraj in UP, on Friday over suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and her former colleague Naveen Jindal’s remarks on the Prophet that have also triggered a major international backlash.Sources told The New Indian Express that though the
situation in the state is peaceful, all unit officers and police stations have been cautioned against any security breach that may lead to communal violence and breakdown of law and order.
“There is no specific intelligence input for Karnataka, but in the wake of protests elsewhere, officers have been cautioned to maintain a high state of alert. Security apparatus will be further tightened closer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the state on June 20 and 21,” said sources. “Kanpur riots in Uttar Pradesh on June 3 that left several people injured had taken place when the Prime Minister with President Ram Nath Kovind was visiting the latter’s village Paraunkh in Kanpur dehat,” they added.
The police are keeping a close watch especially after the banned terrorist organisation -- Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) -- threatened India of suicide bombings to avenge the insult to the Prophet earlier this week. The latest threat followed an earlier one by AQ’s elusive chief Ayman al-Zawhiri in April in which he had exhorted Indian Muslims to react to the hijab row, which began in coastal Karnataka.
In Belagavi, Bagalkot, Ballari, Vijayapura, Gadag and Hosapete districts in Karnataka, members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and various Muslim organisations protested on Friday and submitted memorandums to district authorities demanding the immediate arrest of Sharma and Jindal.