BENGALURU: Was the Mangaluru protest planned? Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai seems to think so, indicating that a lot of planning had gone into it, and it was part of a conspiracy involving people from Kerala.
To support his statement, Bommai pointed to visuals that police released of rioters bringing stones in a goods rickshaw, using masks to cover their faces and damaging CCTV cameras to destroy evidence, using bricks from a construction site, throwing stones from a hospital premises and using Molotov cocktails. He insisted that it was planned a couple of days in advance.
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It may be recalled that when the anti-Tipu riots broke out a few years ago in adjoining Kodagu, the BJP, then in the Opposition, had similarly claimed that the rioters had come from Kerala. The riots had then claimed one life. Bommai asked how the two men who succumbed to police firing could be called “innocent”, when there was evidence of violence.
It may be recalled that Md Jaleel and Md Nausheen were shot dead in Mangaluru on December 19, after police opened fire on protesters. Thereafter, there has been much criticism of the police firing from Opposition parties, with former CM Siddaramaiah and other leaders saying it was “unnecessary” and the protesters were “innocent”.
While the Opposition demanded that a sitting High Court judge investigate the matter, the government has ordered a CID probe, besides a magisterial inquiry by Udupi Deputy Commissioner G Jagadish.
Siddaramaiah said that whoever is responsible for the violence should be punished, but selectively leaking videos and giving the community a bad name is not acceptable. He said the police have leaked the videos to misguide investigation.