The Sangh flexes its muscles in Congress-ruled Karnataka
If proof were any were needed that parties who swear by the Indian Constitution and secularism buckle under the aggressive, hate-filled agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) when it comes to the states they rule, let us turn to Karnataka. Ruled by the Congress, a saffron agenda has been slowly playing out.
Barely three days ago, on August 27 and 28, two documentary films were to be screened at the St. Aloysius Degree College in Bengaluru where Father Amrose Pinto is principal. The films were Khoon Diy Baarav” – a film by Iffat Fatima and “Jashn-e-Azadi” – a film by Sanjay Kak The screenings were to take place from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. for students of colleges. It was purely a private screening but the hyper active city police asked the college not to go ahead with the screening offering ‘law and order’ reasons. The college was even asked to take away the posters announcing the screening from the notice-board in which the college did not oblige.
Is it now anti-national to screen documentaries and to discuss them in Karnataka? Why do the posters on the documentaries frighten the police? Is the Congress afraid of the BJP?
Here is what Father Ambrose Pinto wrote on his facebook page,
“What kind of a Congress Government is it? Sri Parameshwar is the Home Minister. He wants to be the next Chief Minister. That the Congress Minister has filed a case against Amnesty International for discussing the issue of Kashmir with Kashmiris and their supporters and friends for sedition at the instance of the ABVP is sad. Is Congress the B party of the BJP? Secular parties are expected to provide and promote space for discussion and debate. Dissent whatever may be the opinion of the other is a part of democracy. Why should anybody repeat phrases about the Indian armed forces when there are clear cases of atrocities and rapes by men in uniform in North East and Kashmir? State is no God on earth and our Ministers are no messengers of God. It is time we come together to denounce the interests of the establishment..”
That the Karnataka police has become hyper active and hyper sensitive to the saffron brigade’s vigilantes is clear from the action taken against Amnesty International on August 18 when a sedition case was slammed against the international group for simply organising a meeting on Kashmir (August 18). Though vice president of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi had conveyed strong views against the sedition case, to date, the FIR however still stands.
The Kashmir media service also reported that Kashmiri students staying in southern Indian state of Karnataka have said that the activists of extremist Hindu organization, Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad, have been harassing them and are instigating common people of the state against the students and businessmen from occupied Kashmir.“We are feeling insecure here. A few days back some ABVP activists backed by RSS and BJP threatened a Kashmiri of dire consequences at Sanjay Nagar. The irony is that police is scared of these activists,” a Kashmiri businessman from Bengaluru told a Srinagar-based wire agency. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (All Indian Student Council) is an extremist student organisation affiliated with the rightwing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
As if this were not ludicrous enough, former Congress member of parliament (MP) and actress Ramya now faces sedition charges for simply praising the people of Pakistan for their hospitality when she attended the SAARC summit for young parliamentarians. ‘Outraged’ by actor-politician Divya Spandana’s remarks praising the people of Pakistan for their hospitality, a lawyer in Karnataka has filed a case of sedition against the former Lok Sabha MP, who also goes by the name Ramya.
Ramya, who visited Pakistan to attend the Saarc meeting of young parliamentarians, spoke of how she felt the people of Pakistan were very welcoming and went out of their way to make her stay comfortable on getting to know she was from India.Read Ramya’s blog on ‘sedition’ charge: ‘We need to build enduring bridges with our neighbours’
Ramya, on her return from Pakistan, had refuted Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s remarks on that country, saying: “Pakistan is a good country, not hell. Parrikar’s comments (that going to Pakistan or hell is the same thing) are not true.” She made the remarks during a rally in her former constituency Mandya.
The complaint was filed against Ramya in Kodagu, Karnataka under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 124-A (sedition).
Cow vigilantes have also been freely on the rampage, thrashing and stripping men who they police and say are taking cows and or their progeny for slaughter. A BJP worker had also been killed by the cow vigilantes a fortnight back.
Karnataka under the Congress is clearly being tested by saffron forces, eager to make their imprint on a state that goes to the polls in 2018.