MANGALURU: A group of eight media persons from Kerala, who had come to Mangaluru to report the incidents related to the police firing which claimed two lives, were prevented by the police from doing their job and sent back to Kerala on Friday. The incident has evoked sharp response from various quarters.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan immediately shot off a letter to his Karnataka counterpart B S Yediyurappa expressing deep concern at the turn of events.
He requested Yediyurappa to issue directions to the police authorities to free the media persons at the earliest and to allow them to discharge their duties freely, without being intimated.Officials in the CMO said Yediyurappa had directed the Mangaluru police not to take any action against the Kerala journalists and to allow them to do their duty.
CM to visit M’luru today
“After the police firing in Mangaluru, the CM had sought a detailed report and had also held discussions with several senior officers. He was upset over the police action and even expressed his displeasure,” the sources said.The CM is visiting Mangaluru on Saturday to review the security arrangements along with senior police officers, Parliament members and and legislators. Sources said the CM was making all-out efforts to take everyone into confidence and ensure that the situation does not get out of hand. Officials from the CMO had taken minority community leaders into confidence after explaining that there was no cause for concern over the citizenship law.
“They were worried that the new law will have an adverse impact on illiterate people in the minority community, who will not have any documents. Their concerns were addressed. The officials explained that even a large number of people in tribal areas in Mysuru district do not have ration cards or any government documents. But that does not mean that people will be sent out of the country,” sources said.
“At a time when the CM himself was making all efforts to address all concerns and take people into confidence, the police action put the government on the back foot,” the sources said.
The opposition Congress and a cross-section of society slammed the State Government for police firing and held the CM and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai responsible for the killing of two persons.The Mangaluru police action of barging into a private hospital and stopping Kerala journalists from covering the developments related to the protests too caused embarrassment for the police department and the government, they pointed out.