BENGALURU: Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the government was seriously considering banning organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm, Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI). He told TNIE, “There is a procedure to follow. The PFI and SPDI are blamed for the violence in Mangaluru and were also held responsible for stabbing Congress MLA Tanveer Sait in the neck last year, and many have sought a ban on them,” he said.
“There are provisions under the law where one is allowed to ban those who indulge in subversive or anti-national activities. We will explore that. A good number of those arrested are office-bearers, members and supporters of the PFI and SDPI,” he said. Bommai was in Udupi to participate in some scheduled functions but had to rush to Bengaluru as violence erupted in East Bengaluru, leaving three dead and 38 injured.
The minister who held a meeting with DG&IGP Praveen Sood and Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant, DCPs and other senior officers said, “Police opened fire to control the violence. No one responsible for the violence will be spared. The mob torched scooters and motorcycles parked in the basement of DJ Halli police station.
The rioters will pay for the damage and there is enough digital evidence of who was there and was responsible.” He said they had sought six special armed units, and three units had been moved from Hyderabad and three from Chennai. The units were placed in sensitive areas -- four in Bengaluru and one each in sensitive areas of Hubballi-Dharwad and Mangaluru which have also seen unrest in the past, he said.
The units have been posted in Tannery Road and other sensitive areas like Shivajinagar and Gauripalya, not only to reinforce confidence but to ensure things don’t go out of hand, police said. Peace talks are being held with important community leaders to break the wall of suspicion and mutual mistrust, they added.