Deepening the divide

Published : May 21, 2004 00:00 IST

Elections bring to the fore the simmering communal tension in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district.

in Mangalore

GENTLY swaying coconut and areca palms, the scent of raw mangoes, a turquoise sea - the scene is almost picture perfect in Karnataka's coastal district of Dakshina Kannada. But serenity is confined to the surface in many parts of the district. Beneath it lies the new reality of polarisation of the electorate on communal lines. The animosity between Hindus and Muslims in some hamlets runs so deep that women of one community would rather wait in the blazing sun than get into transport owned or driven by someone from the other community. Even innocuous incidents - a minor traffic violation, competition among autorickshaw drivers to solicit passengers, an accidental splash of rainwater by a passing vehicle and so on - threaten to snowball into communal clashes.

The police admit a spurt in the number of communal clashes over the past two years. Last year there were three communal murders, at Surathkal, Ullal and Kalladka. Groups from both communities, backed by political leaders, resort to violence under the slightest pretext. The recent elections have only exacerbated the situation. However, the conflict has not so far led to the kind of communal clashes that ravaged the district in 1998.

For the Sangh Parivar outfits such as the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the Bajrang Dal, the Hindu Yuva Sena and the Hindu Jagrana Vedike, the district with a fair sprinkling of upper castes and a number of influential religious mutts has proved to be a laboratory to experiment with their ideology of Hindutva. For long, Dakshina Kannada has been the base for Hindutva operations in southern India, particularly Karnataka. The Parivar has succeeded in spreading its influence over Uttara Kannada, Kodagu and Chikmagalur districts. A measure of its influence was the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in eight out of the 15 seats in the undivided Dakshina Kannada in the 1994 Assembly elections.

However, it could win only five seats in the 1999 elections. This time the BJP's central leadership, apparently at the behest of party workers and Sangh Parivar activists, decided to sideline the so-called `liberals' such as V. Dhananjaya Kumar (a four-time Member of Parliament from Mangalore), A. Rukmaya Poojari (who lost the Vittal Assembly seat in 1999) and K. Jayarama Shetty (who lost the Ullal Assembly seat in 1999). All of them have been denied the party ticket. Taking their places as candidates are known hawks.

According to many residents of Farangipet, a small town off National Highway 48, Hindu and Muslim religious leaders have asked their followers not to do business with members of the other community. A similar tactic was used in neighbouring Kalladka about 12 years ago when fish worth Rs.3,000 was sent every day from Mangalore (35 km away) and supplied by Hindu youth on bicycles to Hindu households for 21 days. This was part of an attempt to take over the fish trade from Muslims.

On April 26, the polling day, violence erupted in some pockets of the district, especially in Bantwal and Surathkal taluks and at places like Kalladka, Sujjir Malle, Pannemangalore, Adyapady, Farangipet, Kandapathpalli, Ganeshpur and Chitrapur. The immediate provocation could be the attempts by two main political parties - the Congress and the BJP - to intimidate each other. But the malaise runs much deeper. The local people see the clashes as communal. Muslims blame the BJP and its front organisations for attacking individuals, damaging houses belonging to the minorities, and torching vehicles, and BJP supporters blame local Muslim youth and their political backers (read the Congress) for similar attacks.

Golthamaja is an economically poor and predominantly Muslim hamlet close to Kalladka, where areca plantations and small beedi factories are the only major sources of employment. The consensus among its residents is that jobless youth from both communities have been instigating trouble. Said A.K. Haneef, owner of a beedi factory where the majority of the workers are Hindus: "The rise of the RSS in the region has also increased the communal tension. Both communities have started organising themselves and the slightest problem is blown up communally." Said Dr. Prabhakar Bhat, State secretary of the RSS: "Wherever Muslims are in a majority there is trouble. On the contrary, all Muslims are safe when Hindus are in a majority. Most of the violence that has taken place now has been in places where the Muslims are in a majority. Today Hindus have also become organised. Hindus do not act, they react. Earlier their need to react was in an unconscious stage. We (RSS) have brought it to the conscious stage. We have to protect Hinduism. We are not against Muslims or Christians, only against those who nurture anti-national feelings. All communities have to live peacefully. All the communal hatred is politically motivated. Politicians want to split Hindus."

Bhat, who runs a gurukulum (school) in Kalladka, accuses both Christians and Muslims of trying to convert Hindus. Muslims, he says, are trying to create another Pakistan wherever they are in a majority: "While educated and rich Muslims adopt family planning methods, those under the influence of the moulvis (clerics) do not. The Muslim electorate in the district has gone up substantially." According to RSS and BJP workers, Muslim migrants from Kerala, especially Kannur and Kasargod districts, have flooded areas such as Ullal, Surathkal, Kalladka and Adyapady and Mangalore city. This charge is, however, unsubstantiated.

At Sujjir Malle, a backward and hilly hamlet, the asphalting of the only road in the area was stopped mid-way because the driver of the road roller was chided by some local youth, burkha-clad women told this correspondent. Following this, the women said, their houses were attacked by the local people and outsiders who they claimed belonged to the Bajrang Dal. Fifteen of the 39 tile-roofed houses of Muslims were damaged by a 100-strong mob, which descended on the hamlet hours after voting had ended on April 26.

Said Ramlath, a resident of Sujjir Malle whose shop and house were damaged: "For the past two years we have been living in fear. We are a minority here. We can't walk without remarks being passed. The streetlights have also been removed. On April 26, stones were thrown on our rooftops while we were getting ready to go to sleep, because we had voted for the Congress. Children also suffered injuries." Her neighbours Asima and Bipattuma also had similar tales to tell. An elderly couple, Alimama and Chaibagga, have also been admitted to the hospital with injuries.

The Hindus of the hamlet also have complaints. Said S. Naveen: "Muslims came and attacked us. They almost chopped off my hand. It was only after they attacked us that we retaliated." Added Pusphalatha, the only teacher at the local Anganwadi school, which has not been functioning since the violence erupted: "There has been a lot of tension. Hindu girls are teased by jobless Muslim youth and unemployed Hindu boys tease Mulim girls. No jobs, no roads, no development. Life is very difficult for both communities."

At Adyapady, which is part of the Bantwal Assembly constituency, around 10 vehicles belonging to the BJP (a few of which were being used to ferry voters to a polling booth) were allegedly torched by supporters of the Congress. BJP supporters retaliated. The police have booked cases against the candidates of both parties. According to eyewitnesses, trouble began around 4 p.m. after B. Ramanath Rai, the Congress candidate and Karnataka Transport Minister visited the polling booth in the village. Said an eyewitness: "The minute he got down from his car, Congress workers who numbered around 100 began shouting `Jai Ramanath Rai and Jai Sonia Gandhi'. Then the vehicles were stoned and burnt."

According to former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily (also the Congress' candidate for the Mangalore Lok Sabha seat), the April 26 violence was mainly targeted against the Muslims because they had come out in large numbers and voted for his party. "Yes, it is communal. Youth owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar closed a polling booth in Bantwal taluk after the voting machine went out of order. The booth was reopened by a Muslim youth, who was then attacked. The attackers also damaged over 35 houses in the vicinity." Moily was also categorical that the rise in communal tension in the district had coincided with the "consolidation of Hindu samaj. Today Muslims are in sizable numbers and can retaliate."

The Muslims, especially those residing in areas affected by the violence, were clear that the growth of communalism has been directly proportional to the growth of the RSS in the region. They quoted Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Tagodia as saying that he would like "to repeat the Gujarat experiment in Dakshina Kannada". RSS supporters are unapologetic about the organisation's growth in the region and the consequent rise in communalism. Said Dr. Madhav Bhandary, who oversees the RSS' activities in Dakshina Kannada and the neighbouring districts: "We have created an awareness in the Hindus. But it is for the government to take care of the communal tension." According to him, the RSS conducts daily `shakas' in 845 of the 1,250 villages that came under his jurisdiction and they "have been able to successfully inculcate the RSS ideology and the Hindu way of life" in people in these villages. The remaining villages, he said, would be covered within the next five years.

Dhananjaya Kumar, even while asserting that he never opposed the Sangh Parivar's ideology, said that the Bajrang Dal activists' attempt to instil fear in the minds of the minorities would be counter-productive for the BJP. He said: "There is nothing wrong in mobilising Hindu votes, but we (BJP) have to take care not to antagonise Muslims unnecessarily. Let them be left to themselves. But if you berate them or show them your strength (by mobilising crowds), you create fear psychosis and automatically they get organised. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP have also been denouncing the Prime Minister for calling on Muslims to support the BJP. This criticism has percolated down to Hindu youth. All this is going to put off Hindus also." He said the violence would come to an end "since leaders will not be able to give protection to the perpetrators forever".

But many areas remain violence-prone as communal rhetoric is likely to intensify after the election results are declared on May 13.

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