When my party, JD (S), decided to withdraw support to the minority BJP Government in Karnataka last year, I had categorically stated that my sole objective was to prevent the formation of the first saffron Government south of Vindhyas and turning the peace-loving state into a Hindutva laboratory. Though myself and my party were accused of betrayal and blackmail, one of the major demands in the Memorandum of Understanding proposed by my party to facilitate smooth transfer of power was maintenance of communal harmony and the BJP leaders refused to sign it, forcing me to take steps to preserve the state’s secular credentials and its pluralistic character. But then, I was projected as power hungry and an opportunist.

Unfortunately, today my worst fears and apprehensions are coming true. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has lived upto his promise that he would implement a ‘Gujarat Model’ in the state. Karnataka has today emerged as the worst terror and communal hub among all the southern states. The violence in Tiptur and the attacks on Churches in Davangere, Dalskshina Kannada, Udupi and Mangalore are manifestations of the manner in which Sangh Parivar organizations are fast spreading their tentacles across the state and turning it into a Gujarat of the south.

The recent outbursts by Sangh Parivar leaders like Narendra Modi has only served to fuel the anti-minority frenzy of these outfits. If the attacks in Devangere against Christian institutions are being projected as a ‘natural’ fallout of the happenings in Orissa, then why they are not finding ‘natural’ echo in Orissa’s immediate neighbouring states like West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, where parties other than the BJP are in power?

I was shocked to find that the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Sri L K Advani did not express any concern over the situation in Karnataka, which is going from bad to worse. On the contrary, he was issuing certificates of appreciation to the BJP Government in Karnataka. At the height of the Gujarat violence, even the then Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was forced to issue a statement asking Narendra Modi to follow ‘Rajdharma’.

Has the mask of secularism that the octogenarian Advani was trying to wear by describing Pakistan founder Mohd Ali Jinnah as secular, terming the demolition of the Babri Masjid as a ‘black day’ and paying obeisance at the Ajmer Dargah come off, as he gets into a ‘must win’ mode in his hurry to occupy 7, Race Course Road?

His silence is revealing and indicative of his true self as the ‘Rath Yatri’ who left a trail of bloodshed in his quest for power and polarized post-independent India forever? We had never heard of such bomb blasts across the country till then.

I visited Tiptur yesterday to take stock of the situation personally. The communal tension and the fear psychosis among the local people, including the minorities and even ordinary working class Hindus, is unprecedented and never heard or seen before in that part of the state, or for that matter in the entire Karnataka.

Scores of shops belonging to members of a particular community were torched and the act is being justified as a retaliatory action to alleged stone-pelting on a Ganesh Utsav procession by some miscreants. Is it justified in any manner to punish an entire community for the crime committed by some mischievous elements?

Is it a coincidence that earlier too, ahead of the mid-term polls, the town witnessed destruction of property and vehicles of minority community members a day after B S Yadiyurappa’s ‘Jana Jagruthi Yatra’ passed through Tiptur?

It is not just the Muslims who are the receiving end of the Parivar fanatics. Churches are being targeted with impunity across the state and even the state machinery is being misused to harass the minority community. The Commissioner of Davangere city has issued notices to demolish three churches in the city claiming that their buildings were illegal. Such incidents will only serve to alienate the youth in these communities who get attracted to separatist and terrorist propaganda.

What’s more, the party which considers it a birth right to take out annual processions to disputed religious places is preventing the minorities from staging even silent protests against the attacks on them and their institutions. Christian schools are being given notices of derecognition for closing their schools to protest the attacks on their fellow believers in
Orissa even as Sangh Parivar cadres block rail and road traffic across the country, causing tremendous inconvenience to the general public including death of seriously ill patients, over Sethusamudram project and Amarnath land row. Is this the ‘Sarva Dharma Sadbhav’ concept of secularism advocated by Advani? If so, I dread to think of the nation’s future under him, if the BJP ever comes to power at the Centre, which is highly unlikely given the secular character of the Indian people.

The cosmopolitan character of Karnataka is sought to be undermined by the advocates of Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan. The state, which has attracted the attention of the world for its supremacy in IT and the professionalism of its people in all sectors, is today hogging international headlines for the violence against minorities. After the implementation of the Gujarat model, the day is not far when the ruling BJP will take a cue from its parochial friends in Maharashtra and whip up a campaign against non-Kannadigas, who have made the state their home and are contributing to its growth as an international intellectual and industry hub.

It is an irony that the Chief Minister deems it fit to demand tougher anti-terror laws after reviewing the law and order situation even as minorities are being terrorized by his own cadres in the state. Can Yediyurappaji tell me why tough anti-terror laws like POTA could not prevent worst terror attacks during the NDA regime?

Unfortunately, the Chief Minister is living in illusion if he thinks that Karnataka is Gujarat. As a proud Kannadiga and Indian, I wish to categorically tell him that Karnataka is not Gujarat and we will not allow it to become one. The state has a long tradition of secularism and communal harmony and the people will not allow the Sangh Parivar to distort either its history or tradition.

With a view to restore peace, communal harmony and normalcy, I demand the following:-

1. Immediate resignation of the state Home Minister owning moral responsibility for the spate of violence against the minorities.
   
   
2. Immediate institution of a high-level probe headed by a sitting judge of the High Court to fix responsibility for acts of commission and omission leading to the violence.
   
   
3. Immediate payment of substantial compensation to all those affected by the violence including rebuilding of the damaged shops and churches by the state Government.
   
   
4. Immediate arrest and prosecution of the culprits behind the violence.

I also appeal to the National Minorities Commission to send a fact finding team to the affected areas and submit a detailed report to the Parliament.

The Parliament, at its next session, should also consider enactment of a law to compensate damages and losses incurred during communal violence and imposition of penalty on areas where such violence is perpetrated.

I urge the people of the state not to fall prey to the Goebbelsian propaganda of the Sangh Parivar on alleged fraudulent conversions, cow slaughter etc. Rumour mongering is their forte and riots their favourite pastime. Let us together work to protect and preserve our cosmopolitan character and Karnataka’s reputation as a land of peace. Let all secular forces stop fighting each other and unitedly confront this bigger enemy.