How the saffron leaders provoked hate-filled bhatks to vandalize graves at Bababudangiri

coastaldigest.com news network
December 4, 2017

Chikkamagaluru, Dec 4: Clad in saffron, they call themselves the devotees of Sree Guru Dattatreya. But, their action proves that what lies in their heart is mere communal hatred and not devotion. On December 3, the last day of the controversial Datta Janyanti, a three day “religio-political utsav” at the historic Bababudangiri shrine, they showed the world what ‘religion’ and faith meant to them by trying to demolish graves.

In fact the so called devotees were apparently provoked by the hardline Hindutva leaders and politicians belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party. After BJP leader and Chikkamagaluru MLA C T Ravi and others stopped their provocative speeches, some of their bhakts assembled at Bababudangiri attempted to break the barricades and enter the disputed site of holy cave shrine Sree Guru Dattatreya Bababudan Swamy Dargah.

Apart from MLA, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Suryanarayana Rao and Saidatta Raghunatha Guruji were the prime speakers in the programme organised to mark the occasion.

Mr Ravi, who displayed some documents to the audience, claimed that the records proved that the shrine was a Hindu place of worship. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was delaying appropriate action in this regard only to satisfy his party’s vote bank, he alleged, while remarking: “how long should we wait?” “We are fighting for justice and in the Kurukshetra war, only those with truth and justice will win.”

He went on to claim that most of the graves in the disputed site were fake.

Mr Rao called upon the audience to always refer to the shrine as Datta Peetha and stop using the word Bababudangiri. “The State government is making efforts to retain this place as a centre of harmony. We will not let that happen. As in the case of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, I am hopeful that our struggle will soon yield desired results”, he said.

Minutes after these speeches, a few youths barged into the burial ground and attempted to damage tombstones. Before the police could rush to the spot and take control, one of the tombstones was uprooted. The police had to resort to mild lathi-charge.

Reacting to the incident, Mr. Ravi said it was a minor incident expected in a big event. “When thousands of people are gathered, such things do happen. Placing saffron flags have happened in the past as well,” he said.

When it was brought to his notice that the burial ground was targeted for the first time, the MLA maintained there was no intention of uprooting the structures. “If we wanted to damage the structures, why should we do it in the presence of such a large number of policemen?” he argued.

Also Read: Datta Jayanti: Saffron clad bhakts resort to violence at Bababudangiri

Comments

raji
 - 
Tuesday, 5 Dec 2017

@well wisher, first of all i dont think you are muslim, and what you are stating is a way you plan to make brother enemy of brother. hence that is the bigger sin check with any muslim imam and stop doing kafir works please..

Asif UK
 - 
Monday, 4 Dec 2017

I dont understand why SDPI people keep silence for this crime...??????? 

Well Wisher
 - 
Monday, 4 Dec 2017

Dear Bajrangi bhaijans,

 

Islam never promotes idol worshipping. Unfortunately, Dargah worship has become an evil nowadays among so-called muslims. Worshipping other than Allah is an unforgivable sin.  Those who do this & did not ask forgiveness before their death they will do well in hellfire. Dargah & Durga are nothing but the 2 faces of a coin. Worship the creator only.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 2,2020

Mangaluru, May 2: Ibrahim Musliyar Bekal, a prominent Muslim religeous leader in coastal Karnataka has urged the Dakshina Kannada district administration not to end the covid-19 lockdown before the end of the blessed month of Ramadan. 

The appeal comes in the wake of reports that the state government may allow opening of clothe shops during the month of Ramadan to felicitate Muslims for Eid shopping.

"Muslims in the district have completely cooperated with the district administration in making the lockdown sucessfull. They have refrained from going to mosque even for Juma and Taraveeh during Ramadan. Such a lockdown is necessary to contain the pandemic," said Musliyar, who is also the Khazi of Udupi and Chikkamagaluru.

If the district administration withdraws lockdwon or relaxes it, people in large numbers may storm cloth shops wherein it physical distancing will be difficult, Musliyar warned.

He said that Muslims in the region have decided to observe Eid ul Fitr, a festival which marks the end of the blessed month, in a simple way maintaining physical distance. Hence the lockdown should be relaxed only after the festival, he suggested.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 9,2020

Mangaluru, Ma 9: Three more persons from Bantwal taluk in Dakshina Kannada district tested positive for Covid-19 today. All three are members of a family.

The infection is reportedly linked to First Neuro Hospital of Mangaluru, which has emerged as a coronavirus hub in coastal Karnataka.

With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the district mounted to 31 including six outsiders. Three of them have lost their lives. Currently there are 15 active cases in the district.

The newly identified coronavirus patients are a 30-year-old man and two elderly women aged 60 and 70 years.

They have contracted the infection from a 69-year-old man from Bantwal who was confirmed with COVID-19 infection on May 1. All the three members now infected belong to his family.

The man had got the infection from a woman identified as P-390. He happens to be a relative and neighbour of the deceased woman who belonged to Bantwal Kasaba village. Eight  members of his family were quarantined, of whom three tested positive today.

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Abu Muhammad | coastaldigest.com
January 16,2020

Even as the Muslims of undivided Dakshina Kannada district broke out of the “spiral of silence” and made history by leading an unprecedented protest against CAA, NPR and NRC as well as the categorial mistreatment of non-saffronites at the hands of the police across the country, mainstream media turned a blind eye to the spectacle at the Shah Garden Maidan in Mangaluru’s Adyar where about two lakh patriots with tricolor in their hands converged to assert themselves on January 15th, 2020, a date which will be remembered by the people of coastal Karnataka forever.

The largest gathering in the history of Mangaluru was absolutely peaceful, law-abiding and respectful. While the slogans of ‘Azaadi’ were reverberating in the atmosphere, the protesters were seen making way for vehicles and passersby, taking care of women and helping elderly citizens on the highway adjacent to the ground. Though the organisers and most of the participants were Muslims, they collectively identified themselves as “We, the people of India”.

The district administration and the police department hadn’t imagined or even dreamt of such a mammoth gathering after blocking the highway and banning public transport from 9 am to 9 pm. Many opine that this action was taken only to discourage the concerned from participating in the protest and to create fear in the hearts of the people who are yet to process the unjustifiable deaths of two innocent citizens in an unwarranted police firing a few weeks ago.

What has since surprised the protesters most is the mainstream media’s blatant attempt to downplay the significance of this largest ever gathering. Shockingly, it could not make it to the front pages of any of the state-level Kannada daily newspapers except city-based Vaartha Bharathi. In the absence of The Hindu, which had announced a holiday on account of Makar Sankranti, most of the English newspapers too pitilessly buried the historic event in their inner pagers. National TV channels too were evidently reluctant to cover the event until NDTV started telecasting the news of the protest.

This uneasy relationship between the media and minorities in coastal Karnataka has long existed, but the non-coverage of the huge protest of Jan 15 marks a quantum leap beyond the media’s traditional pro-Sangh Parivar stance and biases –– which in the past had often demonised non-saffronites –– to now completely ignore and suppress the people’s voice. This media bias has naturally evoked a sharp response from netizens, who took to social media to issue clarion calls to boycott the mainstream media forever.

Cleanliness Drive

Most major protest meets and rallies –– both religious and political –– leave behind tonnes of garbage, especially water bottles, placards and buntings. However, the organisers of the Jan 15 protest meet led by example by launching a cleanliness drive in the area soon after the protesters left the venue peacefully. The drive continued on Jan 16 too. (Ironically, amidst this ongoing cleanliness drive, a local news portal captured photos of a few plastic bottles scattered along the road at Adyar and published a report accusing the event organisers and participants of polluting the area!)

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