In a bid to bring peace to Dakshina Kannada district, which recently witnessed a wave of communal violence, the district in-charge Minister, Ramanath Rai, has decided to hold peace meetings once in two months.
“There are guerrilla activities which the district witnessed in the last few days. This is exactly why the government and the district administration decided to invite all the political parties for the peace meet. By boycotting the meeting, the BJP has made it clear that it does not want peace,” Ramanath Rai said.
The Minister said that once in two months, peace rallies will be held in which political and religious leaders, along with the youth, mainly students, would be invited to participate.
“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had held a meeting on Wednesday and it has been decided that police officers who have been stationed at the same station for three years or more, be it a constable or senior officer, will be transferred,” Ramanath Rai said.
The decision was taken as the government had received complaints of police officers “getting comfortable with outfits in the region and not investigating cases properly”, the Minister said.
“There have also been allegations that some of the police officers have been acting as informers for the very outfits which caused the recent violence. This will be investigated. The state police chief, RK Dutta has been instructed to make changes in the department,” he added.
When asked about BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa’s claim that the government was trying to strong-arm the police, Rai said that the police department will be given all the freedom to investigate and any interference with the investigation would not be tolerated.
“Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department have been invited to Dakshina Kannada to look into the recent incidents,” Rai added.
Reacting strongly to Yeddyurappa’s allegation that Sharath’s death was announced by the hospital 20 hours after he had passed away, Ramanath Rai said that a BJP leader was a member of the hospital administration.
“Was that BJP leader, who is an administrator of the AJ Hospital, not aware of Sharath’s death. These are false allegations made by the BJP to create more problems,” Rai added.
On July 4, RSS activist Sharath Madivala was brutally stabbed and he succumbed to his injuries three days later.
Yeddyurappa, who had blamed the Congress government’s “inaction” for the deteriorating law and order condition in the district, said that a delegation of BJP MPs will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and brief him about the situation in Dakshina Kannada in order to decide on peace building activities.
Reacting to Yeddyurappa's claim that the Congress government was responsible for the violence, CM Siddaramaiah said that BJP does not want to "extinguish the flames of violence" but wants to "keep the communal violence alive for political gains".
"BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel wants to set Dakshina Kananda on fire. BS Yeddyurappa is planning to set the entire state on fire and Shobha Karandlaje wants to nail the Congress' coffin. If the BJP leaders speak such words, what more can be expected of them? It becomes evident that they do not want peace. The Congress will always strive for peace," he said.
While slamming the BJP for inciting communal tensions in Bantwal recently, Siddaramaiah warned the BJP of dire consequences if they continued to "incite communal violence".
"Strict action will be taken against those trying to cause tensions on communal lines, even if it is BJP," he said.