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Bangalore: M P Prakash Resigns from JD (S)

  •   Wed, Dec 12 2007 08:41:59 PM

Bangalore: M P Prakash Resigns from JD (S)

PTI 


Bangalore, Dec 12 (mb): The Janata Dal (Secular), headed by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, spilt on Wednesday
 
A dozen members of the dissolved Karnataka Assembly, led by senior leader and former home minister M P Prakash, resigned from the party.
 
More details are awaited.


Karnataka: Why communal clashes erupted during the JD(S) rule?

Courtesy S Shivakumar, Meri News

December 12, 2007

Deve Gowda wants to project himself as the saviour of the Muslim community. The community has been unfortunately exploited by politicians of every hue as a vote bank. His claims apart, what has Deve Gowda done to foster Hindu-Muslim unity?

Imam Bukhari may not like this – Deve Gowda, the sole proprietor of Deve Gowda & Sons, aka JD(S), playing the saviour of Muslims.  On Sunday (Dec 9, 2007), Deve Gowda warned the BJP against harming the interests of Muslims in Karnataka.  He was addressing a gathering of the Muslim community at Madina Shahdi Mahal at Tumkur (a district-HQ town, distant 70 Km from Bangalore).  Earlier he visited the victims of the Hindu-Muslim clashes in Gandhinagar area of Tiptur in Tumkur district.  Posing a challenge to BJP and the Sangh Parivar, Deve Gowda thundered, “You cannot come to power (in Karnataka) by instigat-ing communal violence. Creating hatred among castes, communities and reli-gions will do no good for any one.”

Holding the BJP responsible for the unrest in various parts of the country, Deve Gowda said, “National parties are engaged in caste politics. Their actions have disturbed law and order in the country.” He would not allow it to happen in Karnataka.

I do not grudge Deve Gowda’s interest in the welfare of the Muslim community.  I would rather welcome it.  But Deve Gowda’s statement per se raises two ques-tions and I would be interested in them.  Is his party, the JD(S), a national party?  If it is, then, going by his statement, it is engaged in caste politics.  In the cir-cumstances, the pot cannot call the kettle black, can it?  If Deve Gowda denies that his party is engaged in caste politics, then his party is not a national party.  It is at best a party owned by Deve Gowda & Sons – not even a regional party.  He also claims that he will not allow ‘it’ (disturbed law and order condition) in Karnataka.   If this is true, why did he allow communal clashes to occur in Karnataka when his son H D Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister and M P Prakash, another JD(S) MLA, was Home Minister in his son’s cabinet? 

For example, on March 9 of 2006, six people were stabbed in communal clashes. The clashes occurred in Shivajinagar, hardly 2 Kms away from the Karnataka Government Secretariat (Vidhana Soudha). 

Additionally, two major communal clashes broke out in Mangalore in less than two months.  In the first week of Oct 2006, communal clashes claimed two lives in the coastal belt of Karnataka.  On Oct 11, 2006, the then Chief Minister and Deve Gowda’s son, H D Kumaraswamy said ‘the government would soon take a decision on the action to be taken on the communal clashes that claimed two lives in the coastal belt of the State last week’.  None knows what decision was taken on the action to be taken; nor does any one know what action was taken.  What does Deve Gowda have to say to this? 

Interestingly, the then Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash told reporters in Bangalore that ‘the government suspected the hand of "communal fundamentalists" from both communities in the violence’.  He also remarked that ‘it was unfortunate that a culturally rich trade and port city like Mangalore had to bear the brunt of communal clashes at regular intervals. Apart from strict police enforcement and stern measures against anti-social elements, the focus of the government would also be on bringing about amity among different communities. It was quite obvious that certain forces were working at triggering clashes rather than working for communal harmony’.

Well, I would like to know what Deve Gowda or for that matter, his party, the JD(S), did to foster amity between the Hindus and Muslims in particular or amongst the various communities in general. 

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