FBI nabs five mastermind geniuses after teaching them how to blow up a bridge in Cleveland

(NaturalNews) I feel safer already. After recruiting five of the dumbest crack heads in the city of Cleveland, Ohio and convincing them to "blow up a bridge", the FBI halted the operation just in time -- a move that wasn't too difficult considering the FBI plotted the whole thing to begin with.

And thanks to the FBI, we have all been saved from the masterminds of evil shown in the pictures below. As you can clearly see, these evil geniuses were a clear and present threat to America's national security. If the FBI hadn't stopped them in Cleveland, no doubt they would have gone on to break the Pentagon's high security encryption, acquire the launch codes to nuclear missiles, and unleash a global thermonuclear war through sheer brain power alone.

Here are the mug shots of the five mastermind villains now thwarted by the clever FBI:

The FBI: Dreaming up fake terror plots for job security

Now, as you can probably tell from all the fake terror plots the FBI has dreamed up recently, this is an agency desperate to engineer job security. Since the agency can't find any REAL terror plots in America, they routinely resort to planning and carrying out their own terror plots against America while recruiting drugged-up morons to take the blame.

These five individuals in Cleveland look like they could have been recruited by the FBI with little more than five crack pipes. Or five hits of meth, perhaps. In no way are these the "criminal masterminds" they're being made out to be by most of the mainstream media and the FBI itself.

Speaking of the MSM, more and more newspapers across the USA are waking up to the FBI's fake terror plot routine. Believe it or not, even the New York Times recently ran a feature story questioning the FBI's role in planning, providing weapons and even helping carry out all these fake plots.

As the NYT reports: (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/terrorist-plots-help...)

The United States has been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years -- or so it has seemed. A would-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh, N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to fly explosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was hatched in Massachusetts.

But all these dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naively played their parts until they were arrested.

When an Oregon college student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, thought of using a car bomb to attack a festive Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van loaded with six 55-gallon drums of "inert material," harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a gallon of diesel fuel to make the van smell flammable. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the passenger seat. To trigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no boom, only a bust.

This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by their official answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves -- too sure, perhaps.

The FBI also masterminded various other attacks, during which it intercepted its own terror plots and then claimed to be protecting America from terrorists! (http://www.naturalnews.com/033751_FBI_terrorism.html)

This is all "police state theater"

What you are witnessing in all this is government-sponsored theater carried out across the stage of America. The terror plots are all fake, the terrorists are all drugged-out patsies, and the "domestic terrorism" threat against America is non-existent.

The only terrorists the FBI can actually find are the ones it recruits!

This is all done to play to the cameras and keep the American sheeple reminded that terrorism is everywhere around them so that they continue to give up their rights and liberties.

The entire "war on terror" was completely faked, of course, starting with the 9/11 attacks which were themselves planned and plotted in advance by shadow government insiders who wired the entire WTC 7 building with explosives. That's how they managed to level THREE buildings using only TWO airplanes. The third building -- WTC 7 -- was brought down demolition-style. This fact is so obvious that I often use it as an IQ test to find out if the new people I meet have any brains at all: http://www.naturalnews.com/033684_911_truth_WTC_7.html

So now to keep all this whole police state game going, the security agencies run around desperately trying to recruit morons, drug addicts and insane patsies to play roles in their little terror plots, all of which are planned, engineered and carried out by the FBI themselves. Heck, in the Portland bombing threat, an FBI agent even drove the van!

FBI = Fabricated Bombing Instigators

I'm sure there are fine men and women in the FBI. But I have to ask the obvious question: Don't you guys have any REAL terrorists to track down? Don't you have something more important to do with your time and taxpayers' money?

Or has the FBI done such a great job of keeping America safe from real terrorists that they now have to recruit pretend terrorists just to stay in practice?

Or has all this crossed a threshold to the point where the FBI has become the chief terrorist plotting organization in America?

In other words, if the FBI stopped staging fake terror plots, would the era of terrorism in America come to a screeching halt?

Coming soon: The Big Kahuna False Flag

All humor aside, the really big news for my fellow Americans is that it's rather obvious the FBI is planning and plotting a "Big Kahuna" false flag attack that will inevitably use LIVE explosives.

After all, the entire credibility of the FBI is eroding by the day. When even the New York Times admits the FBI is staging and engineering fake, false terror attacks, you know these guys are going to resort to desperate measures to try to keep everyone stunned into a state of freedom-crushing terror.

Unfortunately, that need for a government escalation of the terror almost certainly means they're working on another 9/11-style event with massive loss of life. Speculation of what they're planning runs the gamut across the 'net, from a "dirty bomb" set off at a sporting event, to an intentional release of a deadly biological weapon in a train station somewhere. Or maybe an attack on a nuclear facility that results in a massive release of radiation across North America. Who knows? Are there any limits to what these people will do in order to save their own jobs and remain in power? If they would "almost" blow up a bridge in Cleveland and "almost" fly explosives into the Pentagon using a remote-controlled airplane, then what happens when they remove the "almost" and just let the explosions happen? Then they get raises and promotions! Because suddenly the FBI is more important than ever!

The FBI has the expertise to carry out false flag terror attacks in America

So when the next domestic terrorism attack happens, look first to the FBI as the source, because they're becoming quite well-informed about terrorist bombings and attacks these days, aren't they? In fact, it can be accurately argued that the FBI has the most terrorism expertise of any group in the country, exceeding even the experience and knowledge of actual terrorists (if there are such things).

Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, Leprechauns and Woodland Fairies... and then "terrorists" in America. It's all fiction, my friends. Fiction that is staged for your psychological enslavement under a system of false fear.

The more you are kept afraid, the more easily you'll give power to the centralized government -- the very government staging all these terrorist plots! Do you yet realize just how insane this is?

It's the new Amerika: We're all told that "Americans are the enemy" but no one can find actual Americans trying to blow anything up. So the FBI stages the whole thing and manages to find a group of total drug-heads to unwittingly play their part in something they are cognitively incapable of understanding, much less carrying out.

And then, to add yet more stupidity to the entire equation, the FBI parades these morons to the public, claiming they were terrorist masterminds who threatened our entire nation! Yeah, right. They might be a threat to your refrigerator if you're hiding some beer in there, but the odds of this band of knuckleheads actually pulling off anything real is just about zilch.

In observing all this, ask yourself this question: If the terror threat is so real, then why do terrorist plots have to be FAKED by the FBI?

Source:http://www.naturalnews.com/035757_FBI_terror_plots_false_flag.html

Narendra Modi tops negative votes in global poll.

The net-savvy chief minister, who Congress leaders call an internet manipulator, was outsmarted by a gang of activists, who mobilized votes to prevent Modi from topping the list.

AHMEDABAD: Chinks in his e-armour have left Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi worried. Despite a large, loyal army of supporters in the cyber space, Modi, in a last minute upset, lost an internet poll conducted by a leading global magazine to choose 100 most influential people across the world.

Modi lost out to Anonymous, which is a group of hackers and Eric Martin, a champion of anti-piracy law.

But what shocked Modi's supporters the most was the fact that chief minister got more negative votes (2,66,684) than positive (2,56,792) - in fact Modi topped the list in negative votes.

Till about 24 hours to go for the poll to close on Saturday, Modi had almost double the number of positive votes, over negatives. However, he seems to have got ambushed by those who want to reinforce his anti-Muslim image.

The net-savvy chief minister, who Congress leaders call an internet manipulator, was outsmarted by a gang of activists, who mobilized votes to prevent Modi from topping the list. The defeat comes at a time when the chief minister is trying hard to wash the stains of post-Godhra riots.

Modi supporters believe the results will wash away the impact created by a series of articles carried in the Western media.

The only consolation for Modi remains that he tops the list of six Indians, including his bete noire and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who were nominated for the 100-strong list. Other Indians were Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan, Vidya Balan and Anna Hazare.

The final results will be announced on April 17.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Narendra-Modi-tops-negative-votes-in-global-poll/articleshow/12575440.cms

Maya-jaal! Ex-UP CM went from 11 cr to 111 cr in 8 years

Vicky Nanjappa

From Rs 11.35 crore in 2004 to Rs 87.27 crore in 2010 and now Rs 111.64 crore -- this is by and large the story of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. Her affidavit which was filed before the Lok Sabha on Tuesday shows a phenomenal rise in her assets; in 8 years her assets went up by more than Rs 100 crore, reports Vicky Nanjappa.

As per her declaration, the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo graduated from Kalindi College, Delhi University in 1975. She also states that she did her B.Ed from Meerut University and LLB from the Delhi University. However, in terms of the criminal cases there has been no instance where cognisance has been taken against her.

First let us take a look at her latest affidavit which was filed along with her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha. She currently owns immovable assets to the tune of Rs 96.38 crore and moveable assets worth Rs 15.26 crore.

Besides this she has declared that she has Rs 14 crore in five different bank accounts, diamond jewellery worth Rs 96.53 lakh, a revolver worth around Rs 5,400 and murals worth Rs 15 lakh.

Further her affidavit states that she has two residential buildings at Delhi and Lucknow, worth Rs 77.54 crore. She also stated that she filed a tax return of Rs 6.51 crore for the year 2011.

She further declared that her immovable assets are valued at Rs 96.38 crore which includes both residential and commercial buildings in Lucknow and Delhi. At Connaught Place in New Delhi she has purchased two commercial buildings which are valued at Rs 18.84 crore.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-sab-maya-hai-ex-up-cm-gained-rs-59-cr-in-58-months/20120315.htm

Girish Patel, 79, has filed around 15 PILs against Modi’s anti-democratic policies

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 10 Dated 10 Mar 2012

CURRENT AFFAIRS COVER STORY

GUJARAT 2002

‘We fight because the greatest casualty of Modi’s governance is democracy itself’

The doyen of social activism was one of the architects of the Navnirman movement, which later sparked the JP movement. Patel, 79, has filed around 15 PILs against Modi’s anti-democratic policies and, recently, he acted as an intervening counsel in the Lokayukta petition and got a stinging verdict against the Modi regime’s authoritarian rule.

Girish Patel Photo: Kadambari Zacharia

Election results suggest many Gujaratis are happy with Narendra Modi. There are others in the country who see him as a governance model. There are even many Muslims perhaps who want to forget the horror of 2002. Why do you think it’s still important to resist Modi? And how do you read these 10 years?
First, I don’t accept that a large number of people in India admire Modi’s governance. This idea may have arisen because of the misinformation and publicity, which goes on continuously in Gujarat. But the fact is, we are resisting Modi not only because of the 2002 riots but because his governance itself is dangerous for the country. There are four or five important aspects.

One, he exploited the 2002 Godhra train burning, used it for his own purposes and communalised the whole of Gujarat society and state. When that had served its purpose and consolidated him politically, he took the stand that he wants to forget the riots, as if nothing had happened. Our resistance is based on the resolve that we will not allow you to forget because this was not an ordinary riot. Unlike earlier riots in Gujarat, this was institutionalised and conducted with state collusion.

It is important to understand that Modi established himself as a dharmarakhshak mahodaya (a protector of the faith); then he tried to establish himself as vikasmuni (a development saint). This was to the liking of the Gujarati middle and upper-middle class. But people forget that Gujarat was a highly developing state earlier also; he has merely accentuated that process.

Why do you think his governance model needs to be resisted?
There are five or six characteristics of his governance that pose a great danger to our Constitution and to the idea of India our founders envisioned. Firstly, for him, democracy means only elections. His whole focus is on how to win an election. He has no concept of constitutional politics or democratic politics. Secondly, for him, democracy means majority rule and, in the name of the majority, he thinks he can do anything, even defy the Constitution, the courts and other national authorities. According to him, electoral majority legitimises all unconstitutionalities. Thirdly, he has completely identified himself as the State. He has personified the State. He says, I am the state of Gujarat, and that’s how he has concentrated all powers in his hand.

The greatest casualty of Modi’s governance, therefore, is democracy itself. His Cabinet has no writ; it is merely a chief ministerial system of governance. The legislature is not functional, the administrative body is completely subordinate, the police is in his hands and, even in the lower judiciary, a substantial number of members are under his control. He has snuffed out all voices and dissent even in his own party. Modi is dangerous even for the BJP because he has destroyed the party in Gujarat.

The other disturbing aspect is that he has completely personalised the system of governance, made it highly individualised. He doesn’t want any intermediaries. The result is he talks to people from just one point of view. Some might think this is a very good thing, but to eliminate political parties, to eliminate intermediaries, and the various layers of democracy is very dangerous. The other dangerous thing is he has started the theocratisation of Gujarat society in subtle ways. He does not just celebrate Hindu leaders; he identifies himself with them very cleverly.

In what way?
If you look at recent ads, you will see two photos, one of Swami Vivekananda and another bigger one of Modi, both in exactly the same posture and clothes. He is turning Gujarat into a Hindu State, as he calls it, and you have to live there on his terms or as a second-class citizen. The biggest emphasis of his governance model is on urban infrastructure and industrialisation. Industrialists are happy; they find him pliable and accessible. He allows no interference. But in effect, what Modi is developing is an authoritarian model. The urban middle class might be happy but the resistance from poor and marginal sections is increasing. He talks about social justice but thinks distributing alms to some is social justice.

How has the society changed under him?
Modi has completely homogenised Gujarati society. He does not believe in inclusion. For him, Gujarat is five crore people who don’t talk of inequality, the hierarchical structure of Gujarat society, Muslims, Dalits or Adivasis. They are all just nuisances. This is why we continue to call Modi a fascist and we will continue to warn the country to take care of this man. He should not be allowed to project himself as a politician of an all-India stature.

‘Modi doesn’t believe in inclusion. He is turning Gujarat into a Hindu state, as he calls it, and you have to live there on his terms or as a second-class citizen’

His defence would argue that his successive poll victories tell a different story.
It is wrong to believe Gujaratis accept him in large numbers. Sometimes, election results do not necessarily reflect people’s opinion. In the 2002 election, for instance, which was held after the riots, he got only 50 percent of the votes cast. If you look at the total electorate, 65 percent voted and out of this, less than 50 percent voted him. In 2007 also, only 50-51 percent votes were there. So one must remember, despite his propaganda, half the people in the state do not accept him. This is why we still have hope. There are just a few of us and we are not well organised; this is the problem of all social movements in the country. But still, resistance is there.

What do you see as some of the triumphs and failures of the resistance?
The Nanavati-Shah Commission has been a huge disappointment. After crores of expenditure, it has not been able to find out the simple truth known to everyone in Gujarat. However, the recent Lokayukta judgment and the Gujarat HC order on the state’s duty to rebuild minority religious sites destroyed in the riots are steps in the right direction. In both these cases, there were strong strictures passed against Modi. His government had argued that rebuilding these would be a violation of secularism. This is the most preposterous argument. To kill thousands of Muslims is not a violation of secularism, but to build religious places destroyed by him is. So, according to me, overall, I think the Supreme Court could have taken a firmer view. The existing criminal law may not be able to cover his activities, but that does not mean he is not guilty. In international law, a principle is being developed, namely the liability of the head of state. In Gujarat, there are a number of instances where the finger points to him. But unfortunately, the law is always in some kind of a compromise. The courts also fail at some crucial moments. This is a case where the court’s activism should have been extreme.

In what ways do you think the judiciary has lacked in these 10 years? How has it made resistance more difficult?
The whole judicial process is so slow. I’m a lawyer, I know. One of the purposes of law is to cool you down. You come to a lawyer with a petition, after five years, you are so cooled down, you are not interested anymore. But this was not a case where you should have allowed that cool down period. The courts should have expedited the matter.

But when there are riots and the government takes the side of one group, the criminal justice system cannot work. This is a real challenge for the courts and even Parliament. What should be done in such a situation? The police is in the hands of the government, so is the prosecution. In the lower courts, the judges come from the same society and are naturally coloured by the same prejudices. Legally, there are two major challenges. One, how to make criminal law effective in such situations? Secondly, how do you make the heads of states directly liable for whatever happens in the state?

Legally, as you say, it may be difficult to nail Modi conclusively. So what do you feel the resistance has achieved?
Suppose there was no resistance, people would have forgotten everything. That’s what happens after every riot. And then it happens again. I understand people ultimately like normalcy. Even the Muslims here have gone back to normalcy. In fact, some people may not like it that we are continually reminded of all this. But the significance of the resistance is that it has continued to keep the real culprit in focus. It has not allowed Modi to project himself as a leader who is democratic and believes in social justice or is secular. He is not able to canvas for votes in UP and Punjab. That is the achievement. We have to keep in mind that India wants a truly democratic state and this man is a danger to that.

What are the signs of hope you see?
The Lokayukta judgment — I appeared in that case — has condemned him very strongly. In fact, the third judgment completely exposes Modi’s character. Similarly, the second judgment given, about the places of worship issue — I think if anyone wants a judgment that holds Modi directly responsible, it is this judgment by Chief Justice Bhattacharya, where the court has stated that the government failed. It said its non-action or negligence was responsible for the riots. You want only that, because the chief minister would not personally be in the place of violence. He would be at his own house. Therefore the only liability that can be imposed is whether he could have controlled it or not. And the high court points out that this could have been controlled. Failure to control is the basic principle of criminal liability of a government in international law.

The other real problem in Gujarat was that it has never had a people’s movement from the ground. To an extent, Gandhi was responsible for this, because he diluted the whole people’s resistance. Though he organised people, there was no strong movement here of Dalits or Adivasis or other backward classes. As a result, there is no strong movement that could have divided Hindu society in Gujarat. Now a number of movements are beginning to start in Gujarat. Modi’s own MLA is resisting one of his development projects in Kutch.

Have you felt personally changed in these 10 years?
I was myself an object of attack some years ago. Two people came to my house and said you better stop all these activities otherwise you will be in trouble. They said you are a Patel, which is why we are allowing you to go. That is the only time when Patelism came to my rescue. (Laughs) By involving myself in this struggle, I think I continue to be alive and angry. I’m 79. I’ve always been known as an angry young man. The youth has gone but my anger has remained. It has kept me active and involved and I’m doing something I’ve always believed in, right from my childhood.

letters@tehelka.com

Source:http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ne100312GIRISH.asp

UP police crosses limit of barbarism

LUCKNOW: The custodial death of Jabbar in Sitapur's Tambaour police station reveals the barbaric side of the Uttar Pradesh Police, which could virtually go to any extent in order to extract information. Jabbar died inside the lock-up of the police station during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, allegedly after being tortured.

The police allegedly wanted him to own up the murder of his cousin Raheemun whose headless body was recovered from the farm field of Chetram of Parwatpur Kodra village under Tambaour police station on the outskirts of Sitapur, some 100 kilometres from Lucknow on February 18. "They kept on saying that we must own-up Raheemum's murder and also that it was a case of honour killing," says Sartaj, Jabbar's elder brother who too was subjected to the same torture.

Raheemum's (19) cousin Khurshid lodged submitted a signed complaint regarding the murder expressing suspicion on the involvement of four local youths Rizwan, Mehraj, Waseem and Madari behind the crime. Investigations failed to take off for the next one week because the police was reportedly busy with polling in the ongoing elections. After the victim's family approached the senior police officers seeking their intervention for speedy action, the cops got in action, which ended up in another tragedy for the family.

"First we lost our sister and then we are being accused of killing her. This is injustice," Sartaj said. He was hurriedly let off by the police after Jabbar died in the lock-up. Ironically, the brother duo was picked-up despite Raheemum's family accusing four local youngsters as suspects in their written complaint to the police. However, the Sitapur police was somehow convinced that the four were innocent, for reasons best known to them. Police did not even brother to summon the suspects even once, sources said. Police too confirmed that the brother duo did not have any criminal case pending against them.

"This is plain and cold-blooded murder," says Atul Verma, a senior criminal lawyer practicing in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. "They don't have any reason to summon and torture two innocents who have nothing to do which the crime. More serious is the issue that the police allegedly wanted to paint the incident as that of honour killing," Verma says.

Though the accused cops - sub inspector Trishideo - the station officer (SO) incharge of Tambaour police station, SI Anjani Kumar - incharge of the special operations group (SOG) which was helping the cops to crack the case along with constables Birpal Singh, Abdul Rafe and Anil Kumar also of the SOG have been suspended, no arrests were made till late Thursday night. Sources said that multiple ante-mortem injuries on Jabbar's body have been confirmed.

"We have ordered a magisterial probe into the incident," said Sitapur district police chief Piyush Mordia. Additional director general of police (ADG) Law & Order and Crime Subesh Kumar Singh said that incident is being monitored by the top officials and action will follow. "The incident has been taken very seriously and the guilty will be brought to book," Singh said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/UP-police-crosses-limit-of-barbarism/articleshow/12105731.cms?intenttarget=no

No press freedom in Nitish Kumar's Bihar: Press Council chief Katju

PATNA: Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju said on Friday that the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government harassed the media if they wrote against it.

Katju said the information he had gathered about the media in Bihar was "not good". He reminded the Nitish Kumar government that its alleged action against the press was a violation of the Constitution. A three-member PCI team will be sent to Bihar soon for an investigation, he added.

Katju's statement during an interaction at the Senate Hall of Patna University sparked instant protest by the principal of Patna College, Lalkeshwar Prasad, who left in a huff. It caused disruption in the programme for some time.

After the departure of Prasad, Katju said: "I am a thoroughly democratic person. If anybody doesn't agree to whatever I say ... they should not try to disturb ... don't pick up a fight with a man from Allahabad. I know how to set things right."

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-press-freedom-in-Nitish-Kumars-Bihar-Press-Council-chief-Katju/articleshow/12024438.cms

At the start of the interaction, he said: "I have heard that the present government established better law and order in Bihar compared to the erstwhile rule of Lalu Prasad.

"The second thing I have heard is that there was freedom of the press during Lalu's rule ... but press doesn't enjoy freedom at present."

"The information I have gathered about the media in Bihar is not good ... whatever is happening here is not good," he added.

Katju said: "Whatever I have heard or come across I am narrating here ... I have not yet established my opinion at this stage fully ... but whatever information I have gathered on the basis of it I can at least say that I will get it inquired into."

He said that if any reporter wrote anything against the government, ministers or officials in the state, pressure was built on the owner and the management of the media house for removing him from service or to transfer him to small towns.

On Wednesday, Katju had issued show-cause notice to the Maharashtra chief minister and threatened to recommend dismissal of the state government to the President over attacks on journalists in the state.

"I have been told that people don't muster courage to write against the Bihar government or its officials," Katju said, adding that any attack by the state government on the freedom of press was a violation of Section 19 of the Constitution.

"The Constitution is being violated by such people and they don't want the Constitution to function.

"You are a government, but you are not above the Constitution ... you are below it," he added.

Reciting a couplet of Kabir, Katju said "nindak apka mitra hai, woh aapki kamiyon ko batata hai, woh aapka dushman nahin hai (A critic is your friend as he points out your flaws. He is not your enemy)." I will give a similar suggestion to the Bihar government and it should adhere to it," he said.

The former Supreme Court judge said that if any newspaper or magazine wrote against anybody it should not be treated as bad and should not be made into a prestige issue.

The freedom of the press was necessary for upholding democracy, he said, adding any government should take it otherwise if the press criticized it.

Katju said that whenever the PCI received complaints, they were probed as had recently happened in Madhya Pradesh. The PCI sent a team to inquire into the killing of the entire family of Chandrika Rai.

"Previously we sent a team to Maharashtra to probe decade-old cases related to attack on over 800 reporters following complaints received," he said.

Katju also referred to the case related to alleged assault on four reporters by police in Kashmir and said he had written to the chief minister that it would not be tolerated.

"I have also sent similar letters to CMs of Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh following complaints," he said.

Stating that the media and intellectuals should follow what their colleagues did in Europe, he said the media and intellectuals should attack communalism and superstition to promote scientific thought.

When students and teachers raised questions about paid news, he replied that an MLA of UP had been held guilty of such a complaint and the EC had cancelled his membership following a letter written to it by the PCI.

Hindutva Lab 2.0-Karnataka

Hindutva Lab 2.0

BJP-ruled Karnataka is on a dangerous path of radicalisation. Rana Ayyub traces the scary distortion of an entire society

Click to Zoom Long march RSS members take part in the Hindu Shakti Sangama in Hubli Photo: Karnataka News Images

IS KARNATAKA the new Gujarat, the second “laboratory of Hindutva” for the BJP and the broader Sangh Parivar? As the BJP government in the state enters the final year of its first term in power — it had earlier ruled in alliance with the JD(S) — that disturbing question comes up again and again. Behind the morality and hypocrisy, the humbug and corruption that the BJP establishment in Bengaluru has been charged with is a harder, harsher truth: the scary distortion of an entire society.

Two weeks ago, the so-called ‘porngate’ controversy rattled the country, when three BJP ministers were caught in the Assembly watching a pornographic clip — later explained as the recording of a woman being raped — while the House was in session and discussing poverty. While that controversy claimed the headlines, it also forced the RSS and its affiliates in the state to hurriedly cancel plans of the extended session of the Hindu Shakti Sangama. A Hindu show of strength, as the name implies, the Sangama was supposed to be held across the state after the opening convention in Hubli. Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda turned up in Hubli, wearing the RSS trademark khaki shorts — perhaps the first time a chief minister has been seen thus clad at a public event. If pictures tell a story, this one spoke volumes of the saffronisation of Karnataka.

The Sangama may have been interrupted by the Sangh Parivar, embarrassed and still recovering from the shame of porngate. Nevertheless, as TEHELKA travelled through Karnataka, spending a week journeying from urbane Bengaluru to northern and coastal Karnataka, what became apparent was that right-wing Hindu attacks on Muslims and Christians were now a regular feature. This reporter came back with accounts, incidents and testimonies that were so brazen, it was shocking.

Take a small example. On 22 January, there was uproar in Uppanangadi, a hamlet near Mangalore. Kalladka Prabhakar Bhatt, a senior RSS leader known for his proximity to Sadananda Gowda and his predecessor BS Yeddyurappa, was addressing a crowd and resorted to extreme and undignified imagery. “Lift the veils of Muslim women,” Bhatt told the throng, “and glimpse what they have to offer.” His listeners cheered; policemen listened too, but strolled casually, as if nothing were happening.

Soon after, the local minorities — a mix of Muslim and Catholic organisations — approached the police, which reluctantly filed an FIR against Bhatt. Yet it refused to arrest him, arguing there was no basis for taking him into custody. Rather, as if to compensate, the local police then filed an FIR against the president of the Muslim Central Committee, Mohammad Masood, under Section 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code — “Promoting communal enmity between classes” — as well as Section 505(2) — “Making statements that create or promote communal enmity”.

Two senior police officers have asked to be moved to Central government postings because they cannot take what is happening in the state

What was Masood’s fault? He had called a press conference to condemn Bhatt’s despicable one-liner. When contacted, Mangalore SP Abhishek Goyal suggested that there were “grey areas” and the police would certainly “study” the case. While the police was still studying the footage of Bhatt’s public meeting, the man himself inaugurated the new building of the Mangalore Police Commissionerate! Sitting with him in the VIP row was none other than the chief minister.

It was the sort of moment and photo-op the media just waits for. Yet the presence of Bhatt so soon after the unseemly incident found no mention in the media coverage of the inauguration of the new building. It was almost as if there was a conspiracy of silence. Only one plucky local newspaper broke the Omerta: Karavali Ale.

At one time, Karavali Ale was Karnataka’s most popular newspaper. Part of the reason it is not any longer may have to do with the stance of its editor, BV Sitaram, who has been one of the few voices in the state warning against the rising tide of religious bigotry. For two decades, he has documented each and every communal incident, big and small, in the state — and has suffered for it.

Caught in a bind RSS leader Prabhakar Bhatt (left) and Home Minister R Ashok Photo: GK Hegde

In 2009, Sitaram was arrested when a case was filed against him for defamation. Twenty-five policemen turned up and surrounded him. “It seemed like they had come to arrest a terrorist,” he exclaims. His fault was he had written about the exploits of a local Bajrang Dal leader.

Sitaram points to the newspapers stacked in his office. Picking up some of them at random, from the previous month’s pile, almost every day one finds mention of an attack on Muslims and Christians, on churches and mosques. Sitaram is distraught: “They go around shouting ‘Pehle qasaai, phir Isaai’ — First butchers (Muslims), then Christians.” According to official figures, a church has been attacked almost once every 10 days in the past three years. In some cases, the very presence of a Muslim boy with a Hindu girl has caused a riot.

The opposition to Hindu girl-Muslim boy romance is part of a peculiar phenomenon that the Sangh Parivar labels “love jihad”. This paranoia began in Kerala and alleges that Muslim men are being trained to woo and then indoctrinate Hindu girls, to win converts to Islam.

Bhatt is an exponent of theories of love jihad. In December 2011, the Hindu Nagarika Samiti held a massive protest meeting in Sullia, where Bhatt attacked the police for its supposed anti-Hindu sentiment and spoke of how love jihad, terrorism and cow slaughter were rampant in the state.

He was joined by others, notably Satyajit Suratkal, regional convener of the Hindu Jagran Vedike, who said: “Whenever the Muslims provoked us, we have given a suitable response. If they want more, then there might be a recurrence of earlier happenings. If the police join hands with traitors we will teach them a lesson too.”

‘The larger threat to the nation is posed by the RSS’ MAHENDRA KUMAR, who was state unit president of the Bajrang Dal, is famous for his role in the spate of church attacks in 2008. The Justice Somashekara Commission had passed strictures against him relating to his role in that incident. Currently, an active worker of Janata Dal (Secular), Kumar tells Imran Khan that he’s a reformed man. Time for pennace Kumar spent 42 days in jail after the 2008 church attacks Photo: S Radhakrishna EDITED EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW Why did you leave the Sangh Parivar? I was with the Bajrang Dal for 16 years and served as the state president for four years until my resignation in 2009. During the 2008 church attacks, the state government faced a lot of flak. In order to save the government, they emotionally blackmailed me by saying they would put me behind bars for two days just to show the world that action has been taken. However, I ended up spending 42 days in prison. That was the turning point of my life as prison provided me a space to contemplate and reflect on my life. Even after my release, I took another year to come out of the Parivar during which time I was not involved in any organisational activities. What is your understanding of Hindutva now? Hindutva is a political strategy and it has nothing to do with Hinduism or the welfare or benefit of Hindu society. Playing on emotions, projecting wrong history and some negative points of the minority community, hatred is sown among the Hindu youth. It has been the strategy of the RSS to target minorities to consolidate Hindu votes for the BJP. When it was in the Opposition, the BJP raked up the issue of hoisting the tricolour at Hubli’s Idgah Maidan. By arousing sentiments, it created a statewide struggle, which led to communal clashes and lives were lost. But the same BJP government is in power and it is least bothered about this issue now. All these issues were raked for gaining political mileage. There is also a caste and class angle to it. What is the caste angle? Most of the top leaders of the Sangh Parivar come from the forward caste. None of their children are into active Sangh activities. Mostly, they are software engineers and well-settled. It is the youth from the backward and lower castes who fill the rank and file. And it is they who finally pay the price. Look at Gujarat, most of the youth languishing in jail for the 2002 riots are Dalits and people from the backward castes. How much control does the RSS have on Bajrang Dal? The VHP is a wing of the RSS and it is its job to keep a check on Bajrang Dal. And the RSS keeps a check on the VHP. Can you give us some idea about how much of their politics is influenced by local/national issues? It’s mostly national. Earlier, the Ram temple issue was a turning point. It has been replaced now by issues like terrorism and conversions. These have become the rallying point to influence the youth. State issues play a factor but not that much. The major issue in Karnataka was of Datta Peetha. It was made out to be the Ayodhya of the south. Recently, there have been several cases of Sangh activists getting caught for their role in bomb blasts that were earlier ascribed to Muslims. What is your take? The tragedy is that the greater role played by the RSS hasn’t been exposed completely. It is fringe organisations like Sri Ram Sene and others who are accused or caught. Whereas in fact, the main brain behind all these is the RSS. I have been campaigning and telling people that due to the few instances and actions of fringe elements in the Muslim community, you cannot hold the entire community responsible. And my understanding says that the Muslims of this country are largely peaceful, except a few fringe elements. But, the larger threat to this nation is posed by RSS and organisations like them who want to control the Hindu society through their divisive politics. Recently the Sangh Parivar held a Hindu Samajotsava in Hubli and Dakshin Kannada, in which many ministers took part. What purpose do these events serve? The BJP has lost its face due to internal bickerings and the exposure of several ministers involved in corruption scandals. BS Yeddyurappa is also threatening to break away from the party if he is not suitably rehabilitated. There is a fear among the BJP that if this happens they might lose the vote of two strong communities. Hence they are in a process of consolidating the Hindu vote bank as they will have to face polls in 2013. The recent incident of a Pakistani flag being hoisted in Sindhagi was meant to polarise the Hindu vote bank. Is there any discontentment within the Sangh Parivar? The middle- and lower-rank members are angry with the top leadership for siding with the government on issues like corruption. Their constant shielding and defence of top BJP leaders has brought discontentment among the workers. But since there is no place for dissent and questioning in the RSS, nothing much is coming out. Imran Khan is a Senior Correspondent with Tehelka.com. imran@tehelka.com

Other speakers were equally inflammatory. Some wanted cases booked against Sub-Inspector Ravi Kumar and action to be taken against the SP and the ASP because of alleged bias against Hindus. Soon all three officers were transferred. Ravi Kumar was “shifted back” to his earlier posting in Puttur town a day after his suspension was formally sought by the BJP district unit.

WHICH DIRECTION is Karnataka taking? In many senses, it seems to be a replay of Gujarat, with a shorter time-span. Like in the western state, there is a manipulation of class and commerce for religious ends. In Gujarat it took religious riots beginning with the bloody killings of 1969 — and extending from the 1970s to the 1990s — for the Sangh Parivar experiment to mature. Karnataka saw a similar surge with the Ayodhya movement in the late 1980s, and escalation with the Suratkal riots of 1998, which killed 18 people. In the process, relatively peaceful Mangalore, Suratkal, Bhatkal and Ullal became the fulcrum of the Hindutva movement.

‘At this point, it won’t be right to call Karnataka the next Gujarat. But give it five years, it will prove to be worse than Gujarat,’ says analyst Sunder

The rise of the Sri Ram Sene, Hindu Jagran Vedike, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Sanathan Sanstha and Bajrang Dal were part of this radicalisation project. So was exploitation of socio-economic conditions, says Suresh Bhatt of the PUCL. The current communal tensions in Dakshina Kannada and Mangalore have their roots in the region’s rapid development since the 1970s.

Land reforms created new spaces for different castes and communities to operate in and compete with each other. Dominant social groups like Konkani Brahmins, Bunts and Christians found opportunities in new ventures like banking, education, tile manufacture and cashewnut trade. Many Bunts moved to Mumbai to establish Udupi eateries.

As studies done by fact-finding missions show, traditional backward castes like Mogaveeras and Billavas, who were freed from dependent tenancy, moved into small businesses like fishing. Here they had to contend with the Bearys, a Muslim community with a sizeable (15 percent) presence in Dakshina Kannada, and a heavy concentration in districts like Mangalore, Bantwal, Belthangady and Surathkal. All these areas are today communally sensitive.

The Gulf boom of the 1970s and the new industrialisation enabled the Beary community to prosper in petty business (textiles and groceries) as well as mid-level ones such as hotels and the spice trade. All this led to disgruntlement among the newly-empowered backward castes. It created room for religious mobilisation.

Minority Report Ever since the BJP came to power, attacks on minorities have only multiplied 2008 19 AUGUST Farmer Sadananda Poojary, who is also a part-time cattle trader, is murdered by ‘Hindutva’ activists in Udupi. 7 SEPTEMBER Roopashree and Vikhar Ahmed are assaulted and paraded in public by ‘Hindutva’ activists in Vittla. A group of ‘Hindutva’ activists drag Deepa and her fiancé Abdul Wahid out of a bus in Mangalore and assault them. 15 DECEMBER A group of 24 Muslim youth from Bhatkal go on a picnic to Nethrani island. Hundreds of ‘Hindutva’ activists land there and attack them. One person is killed and two sustain serious injuries. 2009 24 JANUARY ‘Hindutva’ activists attack Hindu girls for hanging out with Muslim boys at a Mangalore pub. 16 AUGUST Right-wing activists throw pork into the compound of the Badriya Darussalam Madrassa at Madhva near Bantwal. 3 NOVEMBER Clashes break out between Hindu and Muslim students at Uppinangady First Grade Government College. 19 NOVEMBER ‘Hindutva’ activists attack two Muslim men in Mangalore alleging that they had written love letters to a Hindu girl. 2010 25 JANUARY Two churches are vandalised and a statue of Mary is damaged in Mysore and Uttara Kannada district. 2011 5 JANUARY Malpe sub-inspector Santosh Shetty is suspended for allegedly assaulting Bajrang Dal member Kishor after Hindutva outfits lay siege to the police station. 1 FEBRUARY Puttur ASP Amit Singh earns the ire of Hindutva groups for allegedly insulting Bantwal City Development Authority Chairman Govinda Prabhu, against whom there are police cases. Around 200 persons led by MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and MLA Mallika Prasad lay siege to Singh’s house. The cop is later transferred out. 16 MARCH Car mechanic Badruddin, 21, is murdered for falling in love with a Hindu girl in Bantwal. Ganesh, the girl’s father, is later arrested for the murder. 23 MARCH Ullal resident Mymoona appeals for a CBI probe into the arrest and jailing of her husband Muhammed Ali and son Javed Ali. She claims they were arrested on trumped-up charges of terrorism and that the Dakshina Kannada police, under the influence of the Sangh, is targeting Muslims. 26 FEBRUARY Bajrang Dal activists trash a Muslim boy and Hindu girl at a juice shop in Kadaba. The couple is handed over to the police, who let them off after a warning. 8 JULY Nityananda of Peral is attacked by Yuva Morcha activists, who accuse him of taking cattle to an abattoir. 18 JULY Mangalore resident Bushra, a mother of four, alleges that Bajrang Dal activists threatened her and forcibly converted her to Hinduism. 13 AUGUST Bajrang Dal activists raid a farmhouse in Ullal, alleging it was hosting a rave party and attack the youth gathered for a birthday bash. 22 AUGUST Some Hindu youth in Sullia were in the habit of teasing Muslim girls. When Mohammed Riyaz confronted them, they beat him. 30 OCTOBER Hosa Diganta, a newspaper brought out by the RSS has received undue favours from the state government. It has been given the status of a state-level paper. 26 DECEMBER Asif of Sakleshpur and a Hindu girl elope to Bengaluru and stay at a rented house. ‘Hindutva’ activists got wind of this and tried to convert Asif to Hinduism. Asif is arrested and charged with kidnap and rape, along with his two friends. 28 DECEMBER A 20-member mob attack a prayer hall of the Hebron Assembly of God in Mangalore. The attackers allege that conversions were taking place and vandalise the building.

The Sangh Parivar began by consolidating unemployed youth in the Billava and Mogaveera groups. Neither have strong community organisations, and the Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene filled the gap. Billavas form a majority of Sri Ram Sene cadre and have moved from being followers of Sri Narayana Guru to champions of Hindutva. Mogaveeras have found a niche in the Bajrang Dal.

Using various frontal organisations, the Sangh network infiltrated virtually every village in these parts of Karnataka. All this preceded the actual coming to power of the BJP by a good decade and speaks for the assiduous cadre-based skills of the Sangh Parivar. In February 2006, the BJP entered the government as a junior partner of the JD(S). In May 2008, it was in power on its own, having won the mid-term polls.

IT WAS now time for the great leap. The year 2008 was a take-off point for the Hindu right in Karnataka. Once the BJP government was installed, it had a choice between broad-based development of the state and consolidation of the Sangh structure. Four years on, it’s obvious which path was chosen. In its first year itself, the government had given evidence of its agenda. Bajrang Dal activists attacked churches, with the administration scarcely taking stern action. The question of whether the government would rein in extremist elements was answered in the negative.

Then CM Yeddyurappa and his home minister VS Acharya — who passed away earlier this week — made a series of statements that sought to discount the extent and intensity of the attacks. There were repeated references to “spontaneous anger” of ordinary people allegedly due to conversions.

‘The BJP knows why it is in power here. It is because of us, the RSS and the VHP. Whatever we do, we have their support,’ says Shenava

The other action of the BJP — and this was seen even when it was in coalition with the JD(S) — was to withdraw cases filed against Sangh Parivar activists for inciting religious hatred, under Section 153(a). One beneficiary of this was Pramod Muthalik of the Sri Ram Sene. He shot to infamy shortly afterwards, following the pub attack in Mangalore.

Many believe the Sri Ram Sene went into decline after the pub attack. The BJP disowned Muthalik even though the larger Parivar backed him. The TEHELKA sting operation (Rent a Riot by Pushp Sharma and Sanjana, 22 May 2010) proved that far from an army of committed ideologues, the Sene comprised hoodlums for hire. As a senior IB official posted in Karnataka puts it, “The Sri Ram Sene, Bajrang Dal and other fringe outfits are all offshoots of the RSS. But it conveniently dissociates itself from them when it wants to.”

A glaring example was the January incident in which five Sri Ram Sene miscreants sought to hoist the Pakistani flag and implicate Muslims. The police caught them, but there was a twist to the story. Investigating officials reveal that the RSS put pressure on the state government to protect itself. The blame was put on the Sri Ram Sene, but those arrested were apparently RSS cadre. This was hushed up.

Shiv Sunder, a political analyst with Lankesh and one of the most clear-headed observers in the state, says the police in Karnataka is not communalised, unlike Gujarat, but is forced to look the other way. “But yes,” he says, “the situation is similar. The Home Department has its own set of officers, mostly from the OBC communities; the Brahmins, of course, don’t do the dirty job. At this point of time, it won’t be right to call Karnataka the next Gujarat. But give it five years, it will prove to be worse than Gujarat.”

It’s a chilling thought.

Already neutral and professional officers are feeling the heat. Two senior police officers have asked to be moved to Central government postings because they cannot take what is happening. DG (CID) Roopkumar Dutta is one of them. Sources close to him say he has had run-ins with the chief minister and home minister. At one stage, Governor HR Bhardwaj had to step in and ask the home minister how the government could let an officer of Dutta’s stature feel compelled to want to leave. Dutta’s hands are tied because he has been refused permission to act against Sangh affiliates.

Free for all Video grabs show how police chat with Sangh activists during a church attack

WHO ARE the lumpen Sangh activists being given protection? Rubina would know their type. Only 22, Rubina is a convert to Islam from Bantwal, near Mangalore. In her own city and her own state, she is a refugee, running from place to place to find a secure home. She was born into a Brahmin family but turned to Islam of her own volition, and married a Muslim man. Her idyll never lasted.

Rubina came to meet this reporter covered from head to toe, scared of being recognised. Soon after the wedding, her husband was picked up on charges of terrorism. While he was in custody, the Mangalore Police barged into her house late at night. Inspector Venkatesh Prasanna enquired about her husband, abused her for converting to Islam.

With a child to take care of, Rubina shifted to the city. She pleaded with TEHELKA that if her case comes to light, she will be in trouble with the cops. “I can’t live in peace,” she cried, “they ransacked my house, twisted my arm. I stay with a friend. I’m worried about my child.” As Rubina said this, she wept copiously — her tragedy as wrenching as it was obvious.

Rubina’s case is typical of what the state authorities call “love jihad”. While the Karnataka Police had told the high court in November 2009 that there was no case of love jihad in the state, this was not enough for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. Despite absence of evidence, the love jihad paranoia continues to be whipped up. Recently, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar called love jihad a grave issue, and Home Minister R Ashok promised a new investigation. No wonder, in the past three months alone, 18 Muslim men have been attacked, presumably as love jihad suspects.

It is all so blatant that Sangh Parivar functionaries take responsibility for such attacks and insist they have government backing. Just a day after Bhatt’s vulgar speech, this reporter met the Karnataka unit chief of the VHP, Jagadish Shenava, and discussed his own hate statements against Muslims and Christians. He was dismissive: “See, the BJP knows why it is in power here. It is because of us, the RSS and the VHP. Whatever we do, we have their support. Do you think we will let these jihadis run away with our daughters and sisters? We know how to deal with them.” As Shenava spoke, a gun-toting security officer kept him company. Asked about it, he laughed: “Oh, this is just to take care of the jihadis, the state has given it to me.”

‘Be it BS Yeddyurappa or Sadananda Gowda, both are first Sangh members and then state administrators,’ says Ahmed, a lawyer

People like Shenava have every reason to laugh. While we were speaking in Udupi, a church was attacked in the nearby hamlet of Hallangadi. In his complaint submitted to the police, the pastor — who provided TEHELKA with video footage of the event, showing Bajrang Dal members entering the church premises on 28 December 2011 — detailed the attack but to no avail. The footage shows men in orange headscarves invading the church premises, and abusing and hitting the pastor. “If this is the police,” rues Pastor Prasanna, “where do we get help from?” He has now written to the prime minister and the UPA chairperson for justice. Local Christians went on a protest march on 22 January.

Why blame the police? After the 2008 Mangalore church attacks, Yeddyurappa had called it a “natural reaction to forced conversions”. Sadananda Gowda, the favoured child of the Sangh Parivar, merely termed the incident “hearsay”.

“The problem is beyond damage control,” says lawyer Nooruddin Ahmed, who has appeared for Muslims accused in love jihad cases. “What do you expect of a state where the chief minister has given a free hand to miscreants. Be it Yeddyurappa or Sadananda Gowda, both are first Sangh members and then state administrators. The Congress too has no interest in our issues. M Veerappa Moily, SM Krishna, aren’t they aware of what’s happening?

State favours and funds are being directed towards Sangh affiliates. In November 2011, Yeddyurappa gave land in Bengaluru worth Rs 50 crore to six frontal bodies of the Sangh Parivar. Next, the Karnataka government released several lakhs of rupees by way of advertisements to a 2012 calendar published by Hindutva organisation Sanatan Sanstha.

Expectedly, the indoctrination project has reached the education system. Changes have been sought in the curriculum. Social sciences textbooks of Classes V to VIII are being rewritten with history retold to suit old prejudices. The state government has allocated Rs 14 crore to publish these new textbooks for the coming academic year.

Divisive Legacy By getting the Religious Bill passed, VS Acharya opened another avenue for the Hindutva cause VS Acharya JUST 10 days before he died on 14 February, state higher education and Muzrai minister VS Acharya, 72, got the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Second Amendment) Bill passed. It provides for the setting up of state and district-level quasi-judicial bodies called Dharmika Parishats with the power to decide whether a religious institution is a Hindu place of worship or a composite one shared with other faiths. The parishats will also have power over composite shrines. The Bill has been roundly criticised, with Janata Dal (Secular) leader MC Nanaiah saying management committees of prominent temples would be infiltrated by politicians from the BJP and used to further the Hindutva agenda. Voicing similar views, KL Ashok, secretary of the Komu Souhrida Vedike, an anticommunal organisation said, “From 2002, when BJP MP Ananth Kumar declared Baba Budan Giri or Datta Peetha as the Ayodhya of the south, the Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu groups have tried actively to take over the shrine. They demanded that the sufi samadhi should be removed and a Hindu priest be appointed. After four years of litigation, the Supreme Court ordered that the status quo be maintained.” But Acharya proclaimed, “Baba Budan Giri is not a dargah. It is Dattatreya Peetha and comes under the Hindu religious tradition. In the case of shrines like Mulki Bappa, where there is an Islamic tradition also, and Muslim priests have been traditionally appointed, the management committee will include Muslims.” During his earlier stint as home minister, Acharya came under severe attack for his subtle support to Sri Ram Sene activists in the infamous Mangalore pub attack case. It was this and his inability to stop attacks on churches that made Governor HR Bhardwaj recommend his shifting. Acharya was also one of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s most vocal supporters and was opposed to Ananth Kumar’s chief ministerial ambitions. He was also accused of favouring Gopal Hosur, the state intelligence chief who activists claim has been complicit in running the Sangh agenda. One of Acharya’s last acts etched in public memory is his defence of the practice of the annual ‘made snana’ at the Kukkre Subramanya temple near Mangalore, the practice of Dalits rolling on plantain leaves containing leftover meals of Brahmins. An unmoved Acharya defended it as a tradition that had voluntary participation. Imran Khan is a Senior Correspondent with Tehelka.com. imran@tehelka.com

What do they contain? The Class V textbook (Veda Kalada Bharata) says cow slaughter was forbidden in the early Vedic period. The historical record, however, suggests otherwise. Historians such as DN Jha have shown how the Rig veda has references to beef eating.

The textbook narrative runs parallel to the controversial Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2010. The Bill, passed by the Assembly and adopted by the Legislative Council, seeks a blanket ban on the slaughter of milch animals and draught cattle. It is awaiting presidential assent.

With elections in 2013, the RSS and BJP plan to renew their agitation for a presidential approval for the Bill. It is even more draconian than the controversial Madhya Pradesh law because it extends the prevention of slaughter provision to not just cows but also bulls, bullocks and buffaloes. “What do you expect the animal owner to do?” asks political analyst Shiv Sunder, “in an ordinary situation, the farmer would sell it, make money and buy younger cattle. Here he is not allowed to sell his cattle. You are attacking his means of livelihood.”

A GREATER cause for concern for Karnataka’s liberals is the attempt to inject communal polarisation even in the cosmopolitan environs of Bengaluru, India’s IT hub. A casual visit to the Satyam and Infosys complexes makes for some disturbing observations.

Umesh Hegde (name changed to protect identity) talks about the infiltration of the Hindutva groups into the IT sector: “Initially, we were asked to come to the shakha to rejuvenate ourselves and learn yoga. Within a month, my colleagues and me were shown a map of Akhand Bharat, and told how Bharat needs to be cleansed of Muslims. And believe me they have managed to find sympathisers.” In five years, the number of RSS shakhas in Karnataka has gone up by 50 percent, helped by public funds and facilities.

Stoking the fire Attacks on churches by right-wing activists have risen since 2008 Photo: KPN

In his article, Hindu Taliban Assaulting Freedom, Militarising Society, commentator Praful Bidwai was prescient: “One can only marvel — if that’s the word — at the breathtaking speed with which the Sangh Parivar has vitiated the social climate in state after state. Within months of taking power in Karnataka, it has unleashed savage repression and turned Mangalore into a Hindu Taliban bulwark, where women are attacked if they go to a bar, where Hindus must not mix with Muslims, and where there is no media freedom and free interaction among young men and women. Karnataka has become the Gujarat of the South.”

The unfortunate part in the process of communalisation of Karnataka has been the concurrence of the media. Newspapers in Karnataka have encouraged the polarisation for pecuniary benefits. For example, the Mangalore-based daily Hosa Digantha has been accorded “state newspaper” status although its circulation does not meet the required criteria. Its editor, Chudamani Aiyyar, is an RSS activist.

While Gujarat newspapers played up the supposed threat to Narendra Modi from Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists, Karnataka too witnessed such attempts. Rashid Malbari, an underworld figure and regarded a foil to Hindutva gangsters like Ravi Pujari (also from Karnataka), was put behind bars for allegedly plotting to assassinate Modi and senior RSS men in Karnataka. Local dailies played up the story just like they did in 2005 when Udayavani reported that madrassas were hoisting Pakistan flags. It had to issue a retraction when the police gave a clean chit to the madrassa. Other newspapers like Vijaya Karnataka too sedulously promote the idea of Muslims and Christians as “members of other religions”.

Come to think of it, in Karnataka, so does the government.

Rana Ayyub is an Assistant Editor with Tehelka.

rana@tehelka.com

Source:http://tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne250212coverstory.asp