Homestay attack linked to BJP's political fortunes?

[email protected] (Govind D. Belgaumkar, The Hindu )
July 30, 2012

attack3_thumb_other150_150Mangalore, July 30: Political observers see a link between the attack by a Hindu vigilante group on young men and women partying in a house at Padil here on Saturday and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) political fortunes, and the very premise of the existence of the Sangh Parivar.

Associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Mangalore University, Rajaram Tolpady said the incident did not come as a surprise to him, considering the aggressive Hindutva indoctrination in the last 10 to 15 years in the coastal region, a BJP stronghold.

Mr. Tolpady said the result of this had been finding expression in different ways — attacks on churches and women, and raking up issues of religious conversion, cow slaughter and so on.

Describing it as “aggressive politics”, Mr. Tolpady said basically BJP was no different from other political parties when it came to supporting policies favouring globalisation. The only way for the party to show it was different was by projecting itself as a protector of “Hindu culture”. On the other hand, the Sangh Parivar needed to project itself as such for its very social existence, he said.

It was important for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar to assert and propagate the idea that Hindutva was in danger. “They have to whip up Hindutva feelings time and again” to divert people's attention from real issues such as development, unemployment and poverty.

Systemic support

Chairman of the university's Political Science Department Jayaraj Amin said activists of Hindutva outfits were confident that the system would come to their rescue with the BJP being in power.

Men from the lower strata of society were being used by various Hindutva outfits for spreading an ideology which was based on a perception of “culture being disturbed by men and women going to pubs”.

The BJP would reap electoral benefits only if they keep up the “frenzy” till the elections. It was a fact that the BJP wants to expand its base in the coastal region, he added.

He pointed out that the Hindutva brigade was silent when the administration itself organised a “rave” at St. Mary's Island in Udupi district.

Writer Sara Aboobacker said with the police failing to take adequate action thanks to political intervention, the cadres were so emboldened that they declared after the 2009 pub attack that they would do it again.


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News Network
April 26,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 26: In the wake of the fears among local people regarding the cremation of coronavirus victims, an understanding has been reached with all stakeholders that the Mangaluru city corporation's crematorium here will be the official funeral site for such cases in future.

Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, who had to face stinging criticism on social media for his alleged support to local people who stopped the cremation of a COVID- 19 victim at Pachanady near here on Thursday, took an active role in finding the solution.

The body of the victim, a woman, had to be taken from Pachanady to Kaikunje during the night, delaying the funeral by hours.

Kamath visited Boloor on Saturday and sought to convince the people that cremating the bodies of coronavirus victims would not endanger their lives in any way as the guidelines of WHO and union health ministry are being strictly followed.

The crematorium at Boloor is run by the MCC and has an electric furnace and firewood pyres.

Kamath said a tacit understanding that final rites of COVID-19 patients inDakshina Kannada will be performed at Boloor has been reached at a meeting with all stakeholders.

Cremating bodies in such a controlled environment is deemed safe as per guidelines, he said.

City Mayor Diwakar, local corporator Jagadish Shetty and MCC assistant commissioner Madan Mohan took part in the meeting.

The decision was conveyed to the DK district administration.

The district administration has also launched a campaign on dead body management protocol to convince the people to ignore misinformation being spread regarding the cremation of coronavirus victims.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 24,2020

Mangaluru, July 24: Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district reported 8 new Covid-19 deaths in the last two days taking the toll to over 100. The district has recorded 107 Covid-19 deaths till now.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Friday said a 44-year-old man from Mangaluru with the symptoms of respiratory failure, ARDS, AKI MODS hypertension, was admitted to a private hospital on July 19 and died on July 22. His throat swab tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Another 56-year-old man from Mangaluru, who died on July 23, was suffering from urinary tract infection, MODS-septic shock, type II diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, systematic hypertension and IHD and had tested positive for Covid-19.

Mangaluru saw two more deaths -- a 75-year-old woman suffering from COPD with type 2 respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with septic shock and a 65-year-old woman, who was suffering from BP and diabetes and admitted to a private hospital on July 13 and died on July 23.

A 61-year-old woman from Puttur, who was suffering from diabetes mellitus and hypertension and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, died on July 23.

A 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who was admitted to Wenlock Hospital on July 13 and was suffering from pneumonia and respiratory infection, died on July 23. He too tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other deaths were those of -- a 42-year-old man from Bantwal suffering from type 1 respiratory failure, urosepsis and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and a 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi suffering from acute myocardial infarction, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and systematic hypertension, Both died at private hospitals on July 23.

180 fresh cases

The Covid-19 graph slightly moved downward with the recording of 180 fresh cases, including four police personnel from Puttur police station. Of the positive cases, 56 are the primary contacts of the infected persons, 68 are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and 10 with the symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

The contacts of 45 persons who tested positive are being traced. One person with international travel history has also tested positive.

A total of 125 persons recovered and were discharged from hospitals, thus taking the tally of the total discharges to 1987.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 19,2020

Udupi, May 18: As many as eight fresh coronavirus positive cases have been reported in coastal districts of Udupi and Uttara Kannada. 

No fresh positive case was reported in Dakshina Kannada since yesterday.

According to Health and Family Welfare Department, two men aged 38 and 24 years, an 8-year-old boy and a 24-year-old woman tested positive for coronavirus in Udupi district today. 

All of them were under quarantine after returning from Maharashtra recently. They were shifted to covid-19 hospital for treatment. With this the number of covid-19 positive cases in Udupi district mounted to 15.

Meanwhile, Uttara Kannada district also received a jolt with four more cases. Yesterday it had reported eight cases.

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