Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s move to withdraw communal cases against minorities in the state has become the new topic of politicking.
On Friday, a copy of a circular was written by Additional Inspector General of Police Shivprakash Devraj to 22 Superintendents of Police and Police Commissioners of Mangaluru, Superintendents of Police- Tumkur, Kolar, Ramnagar, Chikkaballapur, KGF, Mysuru, Hassan, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Karwar, Chikmagalur, Udupi, Ballari, Kalburgi, Bidar and Yadgir.
The letter dated January 25, 2018, states: “In the past two letters sent, your opinion regarding the above-mentioned issue on withdrawal of cases from 2013, 2014,2015,2016 and 2017, booked against minorities in all police stations across the state was sought. There has been no response in this regard so far. You are being reminded to file a report with documents supporting the same with your opinion regarding withdrawal of cases against minorities in communal and other cases.”
The letter states that the opinions of the said police officials was sought on December 22, 2017 and that reminder letters were sent out on January 2 and 19 this year.
The latest letter has become fodder for the BJP to outrage against the ruling government.
Reacting strongly, BJP’s Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje called the move “blatant appeasement of the Muslim community”.
“If this is not blatant Muslim appeasement, then what is? Siddaramaiah is planning to give a clean chit to those accused of serious offences. We will fight against this,” she said.
Joining the bandwagon, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar said that Siddaramaiah’s move “exposed dirty appeasement politics played by the Congress.”
“The cases have not received a verdict in a court of law. Despite this, the Siddaramaiah government is planning to declare the accused innocent. This is dirty appeasement politics,” Jagadish Shettar said.
While Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council said that Siddaramaiah was playing “double-game politics”, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said that the CM had gone into depression”.
Rubbishing the BJP’s claims, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy defended the government’s decision.
Speaking to reporters, the Home Minister said, “The letter says minorities not Muslims only. Minorities include Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims and many other communities. The letter is asking for the opinion of police chiefs. There is no appeasement of vote banks involved here.”
The Chief Minister also defended the government’s decision and accused the BJP of trying to polarise voters ahead of the upcoming Assembly Elections.
“The cases in question are not only communal ones. They also include cases registered against farmers, pro-Kannada activists and protesters. The government is not seeking to pardon those who have damaged property, attempted to kill people or those accused of murder. We are talking about those booked for petty reasons. The decision will be taken by the Home Department,” Siddaramaiah said.
The Congress government had previously received flak after it dropped over 150 cases against PFI in 2015.