The Dialectics of Communal Conflict in Coastal Karnataka
by V.Lakshminarayana
Of late, Karnataka has been in the thick of the news
for high level corruption, language chauvinism,
spreading canards about Tippu Sultan and raking up
religious and communal controversies on place of
worship, all by none other than those in power. As
expected the communal fangs of the opportunist JDS-BJP
coalition government at Karnataka are getting
unfolded. Interestingly the Chief Minister Kumaraswamy
stated that he doesn‚t know the meaning of secularism
when he took charge of the Karnataka State. He could
even swim through the allegations made by the BJP MLC
Janardhana Reddy, who accused him and his family
members of corruption for having taken bribe from the
mine magnets to the tunes of crores. He cleverly
appointed a toothless judicial commission to probe the
scandal. From the inception of this government,
Karnataka has been ruled as the feudal fiefdom of H.D.
Devegowda, the former Prime Minister, and the father
of Kumaraswamy. BJP, the coalition partner has found
unforeseen opportunity to implement its communal
fascist agenda. As a part of this agenda they have
been trying to establish Brahminical Agama style of
worshipping at Bababudangiri and take total control
from the Muslim Mutawalis. Baba budangiri has been a
symbol of Hindu Muslim syncretic culture through out
the centuries. This year they seem to be successful in
rousing the masses by manipulating the Government in
favour of the Sangh Parivar. Massive Datta Mala
Abhiyan was organized by BJP under the leadership of
BJP president Sadanada Gowda. This, in spite of the
High Court ruling stating that all the rituals in
practice before 1975 should only be allowed. On 11th
October 2006 the mob led by the leaders of BJP
succeeded in conducting impromptu camphor homa at the
premises of Baba budangiri. The Police made symbolic
arrests and released them later. Recently
Shankaramurty the Higher Education minister of
Karnataka made a statement that Tippu Sultan was anti
kannada as he used persian language during his regime
. His statement led to strong protest from democratic
forces which forced him to apologize. Even JDS supremo
H.D. Devegowda Gowda came out supporting Tippu as a
martyr and warned against BJP pursuing agenda beyond
the common minimum programme of the JDS-BJP coalition.
Historically, it is known that during Tippu‚s
administration more than three languages were used.
FurtherState level bandh was successfully organised on
4th October by the kannada chauvinistic forces which
warned Central government against pro Maharashtra
stances regarding border disputes. Over all a kind of
chauvinistic and euphoric environment was created in
the months of September - October 2006 in Karnataka.
In this background the worst vitriolic and violent
attack on Muslims was organized in Mangalore, Buntwal
and surrounding places from 3rd October on wards.
Interestingly this was also the Ramzan period. The
communal riots in and around Mangalore are an out come
of decades of socio economic changes amongst the
Hindus and Muslims. Historically, the coastal Canara,
has been the meeting ground of various religions,
languages and socio-cultural interactions. The
education initiated by the Christian missionaries has
been a harbinger of literacy and education amongst all
sections of society. It has seen flourishing of
Banking, Fisheries, Cashew, and Tile industries,
medical and educational institutions. Compared to
whole of modern Karnataka, Canara saw the successful
implementation of land reforms by Devraj Urs
Government during emergency. This empowered the middle
caste groups like Poojary and others who were the
tenants. Traditional conflicts between fisherman
community (mostly mogaveeras) and Muslim traders have
been exploited by the RSS. The recent shift over of
the Bombay based mafia brought criminal elements
belonging to Bunts and poojary communities who added
to the crime scene of the coast. Of late, the common
cultural practices of both the communities have been
systematically decimated. The Urus of Muslim saints
was discouraged by the Muslim fundamentalists. Hindus
who used to attend these processions during jatras
were restricted. Surveillance of Hindu women is one of
the principal agenda of Sangh Parivar cadres. In one
such instance Hindu women who have gone to picnic with
their Muslim colleagues were attacked at Mangalore.
Agriculture labor though did not benefit from land
reforms, however are being paid highest wages in whole
of Karnataka, thus drawing migrant labor from draught
prone districts of Karnataka. A myth has been created
that Canara people are very intelligent. It also has a
notorious history of communal conflagration involving
Muslims for more than four decades. In 1969 there was
clash between Muslims and Mogaveera‚s (fisherman
community) which went on for weeks leading to firing
wherein many people died. In 1976 at a place called
Kalkada one Ismail was kidnapped and killed which led
to communal riots. In the same year one Premnath the
BJP worker was murdered which led to communal riots.
During Ayodhya disturbances in 1992, curfew was
imposed following communal clashes. In January 1999,
kidnapping and murdering of Soumya by military Ashraf
at Puttur, led to communal clashes. Further, at
Surtkal in 1998-99 severe communal pogram led by Sangh
Parivar following teasing of a Hindu girl, was
successful in destroying life and property of Muslims.
Totally twelve people died in this conflict.
Historically, the Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist
organizations have found in Canara, a fertile ground
for penetration and have been successful in
communalizing the people at the grass root level.
Compared to other districts in Karnataka the standard
of living and family income is higher due to pouring
in of money from Gulf, migrant labour and migration of
the population to cosmopolitan areas for professions
like hotel, small trades and jobs. Unlike the Muslims
of other parts of Karnataka wherein the Muslim
population is poor and land less, the Canara Muslims
are engaged in business and skilled jobs and have
challenged the tradition monopoly of the Hindu (
Konkani) traders. The mercantile competition amongst
the traders is the life source of communalism on
either side. There is a small but significant weakness
with the Muslims i.e. there is no political back up.
They do not have pro communal police and media and are
not backed by State. Here the Muslim league has been
ineffectual, Congress inconsistent and the Left weak.
This has led to development of many fundamentalist
groups amongst Muslims which is the only force to
resist the Hindu fascists. The confrontanist
fundamentalists are feeding and living on each other.
BJP led Sangh Parivar is strategically pursuing this
policy since the politics of hatred enabled them to
seize the political power not only in coastal
Karnataka but also in Malnad and few urban centers.
With this background one has to understand the riots
of coastal Karnataka from Oct 3rd to 7th 2006. On 3rd
Oct at Bajpe during annual Sharada Utsava tableau
procession some Muslims objected for depicting a
Muslim saluting statute of Durga Parameshwari. Due to
confusion the procession was disbanded. However, on
the same day nearly seven thousand RSS lathi wielding
men organized the procession, while returning they
aggressively attacked Mosques and properties of the
Muslims. Local Muslims also retaliated with available
weapons. With in twelve hours the riots enveloped the
vast expanse of the coastal Canara. Incidentally, most
of the police forces were deployed at far off
Bababudan giri where in another communal agenda was
pursued by the Sangha Parivar. In another incident it
was reported that cattle sold by poojaris to Muslim
traders were carrying them to abattoir. While
reporting this incident the media exaggerated stating
that a cattle carrying van had hit a lady who was
supposed to be grievously injured. The said van was
chased by Gorakshak Sangh Parivaris who were
challenged by the Muslims with stones at Kudroli
abattoir. The media also published false news that
Muslims killed a Hindu teacher. This was the first
round of assault. On Thursday the 5th Oct., Bajrang
Dal called for bandh during which rioting continued.
One moulvi was murdered near a mosque by motor cycle
borne group. Houses and mosques were invaded and
innocents were ruthlessly attacked. In one such
incident after the peace committee meeting the Muslim
house was attacked. During most of the attacks motor
cycle borne Bajrang Dal activists wearing saffron
scarf were forcing bandh and were engaged in loot and
arson. Police have been silent spectators through out
the period. The same police in one incident joined the
Hindus in attacking Muslim crowds. The weapons to the
Bajrang Dal were supplied in a van belonging to the
education institution run by Nagaraj Shetty, the
District in charge Minister of BJP. In yet another
incident Muslims traveling in an ambulance to the
airport were attacked. The van was burnt and
passengers pulled out and stabbed, wherein one person
who was to board the plane died. On 6th October Sri
Rama Sene called for a bandh to protest against the
arrest of Pramod Mutalik, the hard core
fundamentalist, at Bababudangiri. The arson, loot,
stone throwing, setting up road blocks continued on
this day also. As retaliation at Ullal, a Muslim
strong hold, stones were thrown on a place of worship.
Police promptly imposed curfew to prevent Muslims from
protesting. By 8th October curfew was partially with
drawn giving little respite to the common man.
This communal violence led to death of two, Abdul
Gafoor a cleric from Sullia who was stabbed at a
mosque in Bejai and Ibrahim a resident of Boliyaru in
Bantwal taluk was killed by a mob that attacked an
ambulance. Four received grievous injuries; about five
hundred arrests have been made of which 90% are
Muslims. It left behind destruction of property and
total economic loss to the tune of hundreds of crores
along the coastal Karnataka and untold misery to the
daily wage earners. Total loss to trades, manufacture
units and large industries during a week of violence
and curfew was estimated at Rs 200crore.Even exports
tof marine products also reported losses. None of the
nine major exporters could pickup consignment. Export
to EU which lifts 50% of fish catch from manglore was
severly effected as processing plants had to close
down.
CM visited the disturbed areas on 11th Oct with vice
CM Yediyurappa and announced that there will be no
judicial enquiry. Yediyurappa gave clean chit to
Bajarang Dal reterating that were not responsible for
the riots. M.P Prakash, the Home minister announced
that SIMI, Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene were
responsible for the disturbances. While the Dakshina
Kannada District JDS president Vasanth Bangere in an
interview to the press directly accused involvement of
DK District in charge minister B. Nagaraj Shetty for
the entire violence. The Government is speaking in so
many tongues. Recent Supreme Court order states that
the organizers of the bundh have to pay for the losses
incurred during these bundh. This was cited by many
progressive organizations demanding imposition of fine
on Bajarang Dal & Sri Rama Sene. The Chief Minister
after visiting disturbed areas said that people who
gave call for bandh are different from the rioters.
Congress called for CBI enquiry, which was promptly
rejected by the government.
The rise of religious fundamentalism and communal
facism has gone hand in hand in coastal Karnataka. It
is the unique case of systematic communalization of
the society basing on economic competition to capture
the trade. The game plan of Sangh Parivar has been
successful till now. Muslim economic empowerment with
trade, business, gulf money has given strength to
them. But they have no political or state support for
assertion. The basic contradiction is the competition
within the mercantile capitalism.
This contradiction has resulted in severe losses to
Muslim community. Fundamentalist organizations are
trying to enter the vacuum created by lack of secular
leadership. Communist movement had a strong base among
the tenants and industrial labour in 1970‚s which was
weakened after the land reforms during Devraj Urs
time. Dalits and rural agriculture poor who were never
organized had no role in any of the communal
conflicts. Hence the weakened Left, inconsistent
Congress have allowed the communalists and
fundamentalists to control the coastal society even at
the grass root. Resurrection of the Left and the
assertion of genuine secular forces is the only way to
combat communalism and bring back peace and harmony in
the Coastal belt of Canara.- 12-10-06
(Article submitted to Liberation -CPI (M-L) organ -to
be published in NOV-06)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book post printed matter
To
Dr V.Lakshminarayana.#5598. 5th cross. Vijayanagar 2
stage .Mysore-570017.tel-0821-251312/9448307514
e-mail: skinlaxmi@yahoo.co.in