Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (CLP)
Mangaluru, Aug 26: Over a thousand people led by Popular Front of India (PFI) held a strong protest against the Sangh Parivar over the recent incident at Attavar where Shabbir (name changed) was stripped, tied to an electricity pole and assaulted by right-wing activists for being in the company of a female colleague from another community.
The protest was held in front of deputy commissioner's office here on Wednesday August 26.
Addressing the protest, Mohammed Haneef, district president of PFI said, "When someone wants to live a peaceful life by following all rules and regulations, a few in the society become unhappy and create unwanted incidents. Such incidednts are not sudden but pre-planned."
Referring to incidents of cattle trafficking in the district, he said, "If someone breaks the law, it has to be informed to the police, but no one has the right to take law into one's hands.
"The Sangh Parivar cannot decide what we should eat - if they do it, then we will also decide what they should eat. Everything has a limit but now things have crossed all limits. We will keep not keep quiet anymore," he said.
"Achche din (good times) will definitely come, but it will be bad days for Sangh Parivar," he added.
Lashing out at the district administration's failure in maintaining law and order, Haneef said, "The crowd gathered here today has not been asked to come or been lured with money. They have come to show their frustration against the district administration which has totally failed in its responsibility.
Haneef Khan Kodaje, district president of SDPI said, "So many incidents are happenning in the district of late - murders, severeing of fingers (Sunder Malekudiya case) men and women being beaten up - peace in the district has been totally disrupted. In this case, the distance between Attavar (where the incident took place) to the nearest police station is just one kilometre but the police failed to respond to the situation. Police duty is not only about providing justice after the incident, police also have to provide protection to people and prevent crimes. It is not the police who nabbed the culprits at the spot but some coolie workers who handed them over to the police.
"Soon after this incident happened, those who assaulted Shabbir wanted to compromise, but Shabbir's brother did not give up. They said they were 150 in number whereas people from Shabbir's side were very less, and they wanted the police to drop the case. One person called Anil Kumar played a vital role in turning the entire case against Shabbir. The girl's sister also threatened to file a rape case against Shabbir if charges were not dropped. Both Anil Kumar and the girl's sister should be arrested," he demanded.
"There might be tactical people and spinners in the Sangh Parivar, but PFI has only allrounders," he added.
Criticizing the local MLAs, he said, "In this incident it is not Shabbir who has been stripped but the MLAs. This case has exposed the MLAs and laid them bare," he said.
Demanding the arrest of Bajrang Dal leader Sharan Pumpwell, he said, "PFI members are not scared of the Sangh Parivar. We are ready to die anytime. Sharan Pumpwell is the mastermind behind this incident and he should be arrested. He is going around with bodyguards as he lives on illegal money, but we walk around freely and do not fear for our lives. Hindu religion is different from Hindutva - To which does Sharan Pumpwell belong?"
He also lashed out at the police and said, "Why is Bajrang Dal given so much importance in police stations? We all know how the police function - whenever there is tension they arrest and file cases to show they are activee, but after a month all the accused are released and welcomed with garlands. This has been going on from many years, but this time we will not keep quiet."
"Earlier Dakshina Kannada district was peaceful and people respected each other's religion. But now the situation has worsened. We are ready to live with peace and brotherhood, but if the limit is crossed no police and no military can control the situation. We respect the Constitution and want to live in peace, that is why we kept quiet for two years even though so many incidents happened. But henceforth we will not be quiet - we will retaliate to every such incident that occurs in future," he warned.
On the issue of ban on cow slaughter he said, "The Modi-led government will never ban cow slaughter because it gets an annual revenue of Rs 7,000 crore from export of beef equal to 5 lac tonnes. The money which is earned from beef export is the source of income for Sangh Parivar to carry out its activities, so they will never ban cow slaughter. We are ready to live in peace if they are ready to give up such acts."
Fr William Martis, director of inter-religious dialogue, Udupi diocese said, "I have come to participate in this protest as a mark of gratitude to the Muslim community. When the church attack had happened in 2008, Muslims are ones who stood by us during our bad times. Historically, Muslims and Christians might have come from abroad, but we are Indians, we are born here and we are citizens of this country.
"I used to think that if the Congress came to power, rights of minorities would be safeguarded but the recent incident has made me believe that it was a false notion. There is no difference between BJP and Congress governments," he said.
Lashing out at the central government, he said, "The BJP-led government is full of lies. I opened an account in the bank hoping to get a share of the black money promised by Modi. We were promised that within 100 days black money would be back, but now its over a year. BJP got only 31 percent of the votes in the Lok Sabha elections, so 69 percent voted against BJP. If the 69 percent wakes up, the entire BJP will land in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
"The PM spends so much of time speaking outside the country but has no time to talk in the Parliament. He is totally silent on the issue of One Pension One Rank (OROP) and controversies related to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Maharashtra CM and others. This government will not last for long - its final days have already started. Minorities will come togther and fight for their rights," Fr Martis said.
Anand Mithabail, convener of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, Puttur said, "If the district administration and the police fail to curb Sangh Parivar's activities, we will confront RSS in the same way without following any laws."
Shafi Bellare, secretary of PFI, Haneef T S, PFI Beltangady president and many others were present.
The PFI also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner demanding strict action against those who assaulted Shabbir.