The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has denied Bengaluru police allegations that those arrested in the assault case against an RSS worker at a pro-CAA rally in December are the workers of the party.
Speaking to The Cognate, SDPI’s Bengaluru District President Mohammed Shariff said the allegations against the party are ‘fabricated’ and ‘politically motivated’.
“First they alleged that the party was behind the attack on Congress MLA Tanveer Sait in Mysore, then they claimed that we were behind the violence in Mangaluru, and now they claim that we are behind the attack on some RSS worker. They have not provided any evidence to establish their wild allegations against us either in Mysore or Mangaluru, nor do they have any evidence against in this case as well. This is a witchhunt against us to malign our party,” Shariff said.
He said that in the wake of public outrage against CAA, NRC and NPR, efforts are being made to divert the mind of the people and also mislead them to create a negative adverse opinion against SDPI.
Bengaluru Police on Friday arrested six people identified as Irfan, Syed Akbar, Syed Siddiqui, Akbar Basha, Sanaulla and Sadiq Amin, all residents of KG Halli in the city. At a press meet yesterday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told reporters that the arrested were the members of SDPI who had allegedly attempted to kill an RSS worker on 22 December for taking part in a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally.
According to Rao, BJP Bengaluru south MP Tejasvi Surya and right-wing leader Chakravarthy Sulibele, who were among the prominent speakers at the rally, were the main targets. He also alleged that the men were being paid Rs 10,000 per month from their handlers to carry out their agenda.
Denying these allegations Shariff told The Cognate that the arrested men had no connection to SDPI, and blamed the Bengaluru police and the BJP-led state government of running a malicious campaign against them.
He also slammed Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai for seeking a ban on the party.
“BJP leader and Minister for Tourism CT Ravi made inflammatory statements and warned about Godhra-like situation in the state. BJP MLA Gali Somashekhara Reddy instigated violence and warned the community of “Hindu wrath”, at a rally in Ballari. How come Bommai was silent then?
Citing the case where the party filed and won a defamation case against BJP’s Udupi-Chikkamagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje, where the Special Court for the Trial of Complaints against MLAs and MPs fined the BJp leader, Shariff said that SDPI will be taking a similar recourse this time as well.
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Shaik Zakeer Hussain is the Founder and Editor of The Cognate.