Without the usual josh
Contrary to the buildup given by the local Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) leaders that the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mangaluru will herald a “new era” in coastal Karnataka, Mr. Modi in his 25-minutes address at the public function on September 2 did not announce any path-breaking initiative either for the development of coastal region or for Karnataka.
Visibly disinterested or exhausted, the Prime Minister did not greet the audience in the local dialect Tulu, as he does everywhere else. His speech, apparently lacking the usual josh, was focused on projects and schemes already executed by the government that were already in the public domain. Yet many people on social media complimented his address as a mature one without castigating any Opposition party/ parties. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister compared the situation post-2014 and pre-2014 on several occasions.
While Ramanagaram district was heavily flooded during Ganesha Chaturthi and the blame was on the unscientifically executed Bengaluru-Mangaluru Expressway by the National Highway Authority of India, the Prime Minister claimed the Union government had spent over ₹70,000 crore on improvement of highways in Karnataka. With the NHAI struggling to complete the 4-lane work of Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway 75 between Hassan and B.C. Road with unmotorable stretch in Sakleshpur taluk since seven years, Mr. Modi announced that highway projects worth over ₹1 lakh crore were in the pipeline in Karnataka.
Interestingly, Mr. Modi took the names of Karnataka Governor, Chief Minister and other Ministers on the stage, but did not mention the name of former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who was recently inducted into BJP’s Parliamentary Board, before starting his speech. Yet, the crowd cheered Mr. Yediyurappa as he appeared on the stage and whenever his name was mentioned during speeches, unlike Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai or State BJP president and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.
All-inclusive peace march
Shivamogga has been in the news for the past few months for all the wrong reasons such as the murder of a Hindutva activist, protests over the hijab row, and conflict over displaying a portrait of V.D. Savarkar during the Independence-Day celebrations. All these incidents seem to have dented the image of the district.
In an effort to ensure peace and lift the image of the city and the district, a group of progressive organisations took out a peace march – Shantiya Kadege Namma Nadige (Our March towards Peace) on September 3. Interestingly, the judges of the district court, Deputy Commissioner R. Selvamani and SP B.M. Laxmi Prasad extended their support to this. The event received an overwhelming response.
Hundreds of people took part in the march, which was led by Hindu seers, moulvis and Christian priests. Senior judges of the district court also took part in the march for half an hour and left for their court proceedings by 11 a.m. They also took part in the programme where a vehicle designed to spread the message of love and harmony was flagged off two days ago.
However, this effort did not go down well with the political heads of the ruling government, who often criticise people associated with progressive organisations. The organisers wondered why did the BJP opposed the march meant to spread peace and harmony.
Anger over rules (Optional, if overset)
The BJP leaders have rushed to condemn a statement by Alok Kumar, ADGP, that Ganesha mandals that want to keep images of national leaders or others would have to obtain the permission of the local self government bodies. It seems, however, that the opposition is based neither on logic nor law and the officer is being targeted for merely stating a legal provision.
“If any individual or organisation wants to place any image in a private place, then they are free to do so. But if they want to place images, posters or banners in public places, then they have to obtain the permissions from the city corporation, municipality or the gram panchayat concerned. If that is not done, then the local police officers will ensure that the organisers will face legal action,’’ the senior IPS officer told journalists during his recent visit to Belagavi. The officer said that this was as per law.
This earned the wrath of some BJP leaders. MLA Abhay Patil strongly condemned it. “We are not placing the pictures of Afzal Guru,’’ he thundered, arguing that there was no need to seek anyone’s permission to keep any image in the mandals. He asked his followers to place Hindutva icon V.D. Savarkar’s images in every mandal. Anil Benake, MLA, argued that such rules were being thrust upon Hindus.
Anil Kumar Sastry
Sathish G.T.
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai
