K'taka Ganesh visarjan violence: Maddur returns to normalcy, FIR against BJP MLC Ravi

Mandya, Sep 11
Karnataka's Maddur town in Mandya district, which remained tense for three days following the Ganesh Visarjan violence, returned to normalcy on Thursday, and prohibitory orders were withdrawn by the authorities.

However, the police filed an FIR against BJP MLC C.T. Ravi for making a provocative speech during the Ganesh Visarjan event on Wednesday.

The police have taken suo motu cognisance of the case against the BJP MLC at the Maddur police station. Police Sub-Inspector Manjunath has lodged the complaint in this regard. A case has been registered under the allegation of delivering inflammatory speeches that create hatred and animosity and harm communal harmony by inciting ill will among different communities.

The police have identified 29 stone pelters and arrested 22 of them so far.

BJP MLA C.T. Ravi had stirred controversy by stating, "We didn't spare Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, and you are nothing. The blood of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda (freedom fighters) flows in us. If you challenge us, we will break you. We will ensure your heads are off your bodies."

He further issued a controversial statement: "If you love Pakistan, you can take your luggage and leave. We have the capacity to bury those who pelt stones. Islam took birth 1,600 years ago, but Hinduism has existed for tens of thousands of years. Four- and six-year-old kids are spitting on the Ganesh procession. Imagine how the seeds of poison are being sown in their minds."

C.T. Ravi stated, "Even when they are just 5 per cent, they are already spreading their influence. If they reach 50 per cent, how will our children and grandchildren be able to live? They will break society apart."

It can be recalled that thousands of people joined the Ganesh Visarjan event in Maddur town of Mandya district on Wednesday. The Hindu organisations decided to conduct the immersion of 28 Ganesh idols at once on Wednesday, following the stone pelting incident during the Ganesh Visarjan procession on Sunday night. In the entire Maddur town, more than 2,000 policemen were deployed to maintain peace and law and order.

The accused had indulged in stone pelting from a mosque on the route of the procession. The route, however, was not changed on Wednesday. The authorities made tight security arrangements in the vicinity of the mosque. The police department deployed 500 policemen near the mosque and also stationed platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) there. Hundreds of policemen walked along with the Ganesh Visarjan procession to ensure that no untoward incident took place near the mosque.