The last two years saw 52 cases registered over clashes during Ganesha Chathurthi processions in Karnataka, Home Department data shows. While 24 of them were reported from Mandya district alone in the aftermath of two communal clashes, 10 cases were not caused by any communal tensions.
Home Minister G Parameshwar released data regarding clashes during Ganesha processions in Karnataka in the Legislative Council during the winter session of the legislature in 2025 in response to a question from BJP MLC CT Ravi.
CT Ravi had sought information on clashes during the Ganesha Chathurthi and Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations for the past two-and-a-half years and their causes and instigators. The period for which the data was sought coincided with the Congress government taking office in mid-2023 after the state elections.
The year 2024 saw 40 cases and 2025 saw 12 cases registered following disputes, stone pelting, or clashes during Ganesha processions. The cases were registered across seven districts, namely, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kolar, Tumakuru, Mandya, Davanagere, and Shivamogga.
The data provided did not include information regarding causes behind some cases. Although the data says a total of 24 cases were registered in Mandya in 2024, detailed information was only provided for 18 and there was no information about any of the other cases including which police station they were filed at.
The Mandya cases
The cases registered in Mandya district over the communal clash in Nagamangala in 2024 and in Maddur last year, pushed up the overall number of cases in the state. Excluding these, the total number of cases booked over Ganesha processions was 23 in 2024 and two in 2025.
Police registered 17 cases over arson and property damage during communal clashes in Nagamangala in 2024. A Ganesha procession deviated from the approved route near the mosque, which the police failed to stop. The group raised ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans, which were met with shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ but the police managed to make the procession leave the spot. Later a group turned up at the Nagamangala Town police station and picked a fight with the police demanding to know why they couldn’t go towards the mosque. Word about the altercation spread and the group swelled to about 500 people. A group of Muslims too gathered, and a clash broke out, with the outnumbered police personnel sandwiched between the two groups, trying to control the violence.
Stones were thrown at a Ganesha procession in Ram Rahim Nagar in Maddur town on September 7 last year. The next day, large crowds mobilised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh took over the streets, raising abuses at Muslims and vandalising Eid Milaad decorations. Police registered 10 cases, including for the stone pelting, hate speech, and vandalism in defiance of prohibitory orders.
A case was registered at the Azadnagar police station Mandya in 2024 over stone pelting after Muslims objected to a group raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans in their area. Those booked included two minors.
The cases in Mandya district, which is part of the Old Mysuru region, are significant. Hindutva has had little traction in the region for historical reasons, unlike other parts of Karnataka, where its acceptance is uneven. The BJP and Sangh Parivar have been attempting to make inroads in this region, which has never voted for the saffron party. However, the BJP’s vote share rose marginally in Mandya district in the 2023 Assembly election, and the communal violence in Nagamangala and Maddur have polarised local communities.
Apart from the cases in Mandya, communal sentiment appeared to be involved only in a handful of cases across the state where clashes broke out during Ganesha Chathurthi processions.
Two incidents communally triggered
In Sagar in Shivamogga in 2025, a case was registered against two minors after a video of them spitting on a Ganesha idol went viral. Right-wing groups had claimed that Muslim boys had spat on the idol, but according to the police the parents of the two five-year-olds had immediately apologised for what had happened.
In Davanagere, an incident of stone pelting in 2024 led to the booking of three cases in two police stations over stone pelting and related rioting between Hindus and Muslims. The data showed that two people, one Muslim and one Hindu, a worker of the Bajrang Dal, instigated the violence.
No information was provided about the six cases registered in Bandebazar police station in Belagavi between 2023-24, except that one of them also invoked the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
No communal cause in 10 cases
In 10 other cases registered in connection with Ganesha processions, the causes behind clashes appeared unrelated to any communal sentiment and in some cases, trivial.
In Bengaluru city and district for instance, six cases were registered in four police stations between 2023-25. The reasons for the clashes included old enmity, change of song during the Ganesha procession, casteist objections to a procession entering a particular area, a riot over a broken window pane, and objections to firecrackers.
In Hosakote, savarna people in Kannoorahalli objected to a procession passing through their area and the case registered invoked the Atrocities Act.
Two cases registered in 2024 in Davanagere related to a fight over a child standing at a spot to watch the procession and an assault that occurred because one person was angry with another.
In Kolar district in 2024, a case was registered after a fight broke out between two people over who should dance at the procession.
In Tumakuru, police booked nine people for brandishing machetes during a Ganesha procession and causing fear among the public.