Mangaluru Chalo: BJP Rally organised for peace ends up in chaos

The Mangaluru Chalo rally was held in the coastal city despite not having permission from the police for the same. As the party men went on to lay siege to the Deputy Commissioner's office, leaders were arrested, and the chaos led to protesters as well as the police getting injured.

The police had given the BJP protesters permission to conduct a peaceful protest at Nehru Maidan in Mangaluru. But BJP leaders were adamant of organising a bike rally.

Speaking to Suvarna News, leaders Eshwarappa, MP Pratap Simha, Shobha Karandlaje said that they were fighting for the cause of peace. Organising a protest rally was their democratic right.

The leaders expressed anger over the fact that CM Siddaramaiah was numb towards the killings of RSS and BJP supporters. They demanded CBI and NIA probe into the killings of RSS workers.

The emotionally loaded speeches were made at the Jyothi Circle in Mangaluru despite the fact that Section 35/3 of the IPC was imposed in and around the Nehru Maidan where permission was given for the protest.

MP and the main organiser of the Mangaluru Chalo, Pratap Simha lashed out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and said that he has failed in bringing the culprits who killed the RSS men to the book. "He did not even have the basic courtesy to visit the homes of the slain RSS men," said Simha.

Expressing similar views, MLA Nalin Kumar Kateel, former minister R Ashok also lashed out at the CM and said that those died for no fault of theirs should be given justice.

Eshwarappa said that BJP has never been violent. It is the most peaceful party in the country. He criticised Siddaramaiah's attitude and said he has no idea who are striving to protect the country and who are destroying it. 

Shouting out loud, Shobha also said that CM Siddaramaiah is an utter failure and will never be able to find the culprits of killers of RSS members and also Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. She said if permission were given for bike rally in Mangaluruu, this protest would have ended here. But as they are not allowed to do so, there will be protests throughout the state.

They have demanded that outfits like KDA and PFI should be banned and District In-charge Ramanath Rai should step down. Though the leaders who spoke addressed Yeddyurappa as the next Chief Minister, it looked like he was being sidelined.

Arrest leads to chaos

In fact, after the speech protesters got into the buses to lay siege to the DC's office. Meanwhile, BJP leaders BS Yeddyurappa, Aravind Limbavali, Eshwarappa, Shobha Karandlaje started walking to the DC's office.

Fearing law and order situation the police arrested the leaders and when the bus carrying Yeddyurappa was taking a detour from the Nehru Maidan, protesters laid siege to the bus, they slept on the road staging a protest. They demanded that Yeddyurappa and all leaders be taken to the Nehru Maidan.

Fight arose between the police and the protesters. In the chaos, two police personnel and some party workers got injured. One person suffered a cardiac arrest. All of them have been admitted to the Victoria Hospital in Mangaluru.

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Meanwhile, to control the law and order situation, the police made all the protesters get into the bus and took all of them to Nehru Maidan. Tight security was deployed outside the Maidan, not allowing the tension to spread anywhere else in Mangaluru. The arrested are likely to get bail in a while.

However, the supporters have said that even if there was no bike rally, the BJP has successfully carried out the Mangaluru Chalo protest.  

It can be remembered that recently there was tension in the coastal districts of Karnataka. It started with the killing of Ashraf and then escalated with the murder of RSS party worker Sharath Madiwal.

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