5 months ago
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Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara’s announcement that the Special Action Force (SAF) would beryllium deployed successful Mandya territory has brought renewed attraction to threats to spiritual harmony. The SAF is already deployed successful the communally volatile coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, too Shivamogga.
Formed by restructuring the Anti Naxal Force, the 280-member SAF is tasked with maintaining communal bid by cracking down connected those fomenting spiritual hatred; gathering quality connected communally provocative speeches; and monitoring societal media for contented that has imaginable to vitiate the atmosphere. Headed by an serviceman of the fertile of Deputy Inspector General of Police, the SAF does not person the authorization to analyse cases. It lone identifies imaginable offences and alerts the jurisdictional constabulary to instrumentality due action. The Home Minister said helium was satisfied with the SAF’s performance, noting that since its motorboat successful June 2025, the coastal districts had not seen immoderate communal flare-ups.
His determination to deploy the SAF successful Mandya comes connected the backmost of a spate of caller communal incidents successful the district. Dominated by the mostly agrarian and land-owning Vokkaligas, Mandya has historically remained insulated from communal politics. In the 1970s and 1980s, the younker of Mandya gravitated towards progressive movements specified arsenic the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and the Dalit Sangharsha Samithi, and embraced writer laureate Kuvempu’s doctrine of a ‘Vishwa Manava’ (universal quality being).
But successful caller years, communal tensions person repeatedly surfaced. The yearly Hanuma Jayanti procession successful Srirangapatna, the erstwhile spot of powerfulness during Tipu Sultan’s reign, often sparks communal hostility erstwhile the Hindu Jagran Vedike march passes by the 18th period Jamia Masjid and its activists marque a vain bid to participate the fortified mosque. In January 2024, determination was a enactment successful Keregodu implicit replacing a saffron emblem with the Indian tricolour connected a flagpole. In September that twelvemonth successful Nagamangala, determination was chromatic throwing during the Ganesha immersion procession, which escalated into clashes; the aforesaid happened successful Maddur this September. These episodes, successful summation to the heckling of a hijab-clad miss by a radical of boys waving saffron shawls successful a assemblage successful 2022, awesome a worrying communal drift.
Political analysts person observed that the emergence successful instances of spiritual intolerance successful Mandya has coincided with the BJP’s electoral confederation with the JD(S) — a enactment traditionally backed by Vokkaligas and a cardinal rival to the ruling Congress successful the region.
The Congress secured six retired of 7 Assembly seats successful Mandya territory successful the 2023 polls, including the Melukote seat, wherever it supported Darshan Puttannaiah of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha party. However, it mislaid the Mandya Lok Sabha spot to JD(S) person H.D. Kumaraswamy successful the 2024 elections. It present blames JD(S) cadres’ enactment for BJP’s Hindutva authorities for deepening spiritual polarisation.
For decades, the Congress and the JD(S) were straight successful contention successful the Old Mysore region, portion the BJP struggled to summation a foothold. But the confederation betwixt the H.D. Deve Gowda-led enactment with the BJP appears to person importantly altered the dynamics connected the ground. The JD(S) cadre, who had antecedently competed with the Congress for Muslim votes to support a fragile communal balance, present find themselves aligned with the BJP and its affiliates. The displacement was evident during the padayatra taken retired to protestation against the Keregodu emblem contention erstwhile adjacent Mr. Kumaraswamy sported a saffron shawl. It was besides seen during demonstrations against the chromatic pelting connected Ganesha idols successful Maddur.
The nationalist effect to the telephone for protestation against the caller chromatic pelting incidental successful Maddur was striking. Even though the section constabulary had acted swiftly by arresting much than 20 radical belonging to the Muslim community, the demonstrations remained massive. JD(S) leaders flanked BJP firebrands astatine demonstrations successful Maddur.
While the Congress grapples with the challenges of communalisation and the BJP-JD(S) combine, it hopes that the SAF volition assistance reconstruct stability. While the BJP, which gained votes betwixt 2018 and 2023, is strengthened by its JD(S) confederation successful the Vokkaliga heartland, the semipermanent aboriginal of the JD(S) remains uncertain.
