The Bengaluru city police Friday arrested three youths- Sridhar Gowda, Sagar Tapa, Naveen Kalappa who allegedly broke into the premises of BJP MLA Satish Reddy’s residence and set fire to two cars around 1.25 a.m. on August 12.
But even before the arrest, regional Kannada TV channels and Hindutva outfits gave a communal spin to the incident, squarely blaming the Muslim and Christian communities.
Making false equivalences with a completely unrelated incident, a pontiff, Santosh Guruji said “Last year, around the same time an MLA’s house (Akhanda Srinivas Murthy) was set on fire in DJ Halli area. Again a similar incident has occurred.” “MLA’s car has been set on fire by the same people,” he added referring to the Muslim community.
He also blatantly claimed that “We will have to become ‘Shivaji’ if such instances keep increasing,” falsely communalizing the incident and instigating the Hindu community. The pontiff’s statement was aired by NewsFirst news channel.
Digvijay TV, Public TV and Power TV also peddled a communal angle, especially blaming the Christian community, in connection with the unveiling of the Shiva Statue on Begur lake, that they alleged, “triggered the Christian community to attack the MLA’s car.”
Shiva Statue On Begur Lake
Despite a Karnataka High Court stay order, a Shiva statue built on an artificial lake island was unveiled last week by right-wing groups.
The High Court had issued the stay order in August 2019 stopping the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from constructing the statue in the middle of the Begur Lake in the city since it did not have authority to reduce the area of the lake and make islands in it.
MLA Satish Reddy had backed the right-wing groups. The High Court had passed the order after observing a petition filed by Environment Support Group’s Leo Saldanha, who sought to protect the lake from encroachment.
However, pro-Hindutva organisations circulated posters and videos questioning the stay on the statue, propagating a claim that it was due to objections raised by the Christian community.
“Did Christians eyes become red after Shiva pooja?”, a caption on Power TV read in Kannada during coverage of the car burning incident.
Public TV, during its coverage of the car torching incident, brought in the Shiva statue episode and categorically identified Leo as being a ‘Christian’, speculating a link between his religion and his opposition to the statue being built on the lake. They further speculated that the unveiling could have triggered the Christian community to act out on the MLA who backed the move.
Digvijay TV also mirrored this false communal angle. “The statue unveiling was done by Hindu organisations. Satish Reddy was backing them. Is this why this was done to the MLA’s car overnight,” the anchor questioned, referring to allegations of the Christian community being triggered by the statue on the lake.
All the false speculations have been brought to shame after the police found the culprits were motivated by personal rivalry, and from within the Hindu community. The trio reportedly confessed that they set fire to the cars out of a grudge against the MLA. One of them said he had been to the MLA’s residence multiple times seeking some personal help but was reportedly not let into the house.
“This has become a growing trend in the media. They uncritically air whatever people are saying and join hands with right-wing forces who seek to communalise issues,” Adv Vinay Sreenivas told The Cognate.
