Anatomy Of A Riot

No sooner had the August 11 mob violence in east Bangalore’s Kaval Byrasandra locality been contained­—after police firing which claimed three lives—than the politics kicked in. The Congress hadn’t reacted immediately and when it did, the response was guarded. So, leaders from the ruling BJP lost no time in prodding the party over ‘appeasement’—the violence-hit localities have a sizeable Muslim population and the Congress has a strong presence there. In fact, Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, whose house was ransacked and burnt down, had won the 2018 polls with the highest vote share in Karnataka.

So what had gone wrong? A Facebook post on Prophet Muhammed shared by Murthy’s nephew P. Naveen touched off the riotous scenes in which a mob attacked his house, vandalised two police stations and torched vehicles on the street. But various undercurrents in these localities­—seemingly linked to the municipal polls that are due this year—also appear to fill the frame of what has been Bangalore’s worst street riotings in several years. Karnataka’s home minister Basavaraj Bommai hinted as much—several angles, including infighting among local politicians are being investigated. Besides, the role of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), some of whose members are among the 300-odd people arrested so far, is also under scrutiny amid a clamour to ban the outfit.

The SDPI, meanwhile, blames the police for letting the situation get out of hand by delaying Naveen’s arrest. “It’s the BJP’s ploy to point to SDPI or other organisations to divert attention from the government’s failure,” said SDPI’s Karnataka president Mohammed Ilyas Thumbe. While its local leader Muzzamil Pasha has been picked up, the arrested also includes the husband of

a Congress corporator.

Murthy has distanced himself from Naveen, telling reporters that he had cut off contact with his nephew a decade ago. But Murthy is also a relative newcomer to the Congress—having joined the party in 2018 after leaving the Janata Dal (S). So, while suggestions of a tussle among Congress leaders are doing the rounds, the JD(S) leader and former chief minister H. D. Kumaraswamy also tossed in the phrases ‘nepotism’ and ‘family feud’ while tweeting about the probable causes of the incident.

The Congress, pointing to fact that its own MLA was a victim of the attack, says none of its workers were involved in rioting. The party has set up a fact-finding committee to probe the incident, and has demanded that the government appoint a judicial inquiry. Incidentally, the BJP sent a team to visit the violence-hit area; while BJP leaders are blaming both Congress and SDPI, the point they are highlighting is that a Dalit MLA was attacked.

Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa said the government intends to recover the cost of damage to property from the rioters—it will approach the high court for the appointment of a claims commissioner to assess the damage. A special investigating team has been set up to fast track the probe, the CM has said.

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore