Mangaluru: BJP and Congress corporators engaged in a war of words over graffiti that popped up on Mangaluru’s walls.
Congress corporators said that BJP government has failed in finding out who is responsible for graffiti.
In response, BJP said that Congress should avoid making baseless allegations.
U.T. Khader
Earlier, taking strong exception to “graffiti campaign” that have been appearing in the city, former Karnataka minister and Mangaluru Congress MLA, U.T. Khader appealed to the police to act before it was too late.
Speaking to reporters in Mangaluru, Khader charged that the Mangaluru police had failed miserably in protecting its people. “Where is intelligence? What is the city police doing when miscreants are going on writing on city walls trying to disrupt communal harmony?,” he asked and cautioned the police if they failed to act in week’s time, then he will be forced to launch Mangaluru-wide protests.
Training his guns on the ruling BJP, the Mangaluru MLA wanted to know why only such communal messages crop up whenever BJP comes to power in the state. “I want to know why this happens in our region when BJP comes to power,” he said.
Graffiti
On Friday, a graffiti appeared on a Mangaluru city wall, reading: “Do not instigate us to invite Lashkar-E-Toyaba or Talibanis to deal with Sanghis and Manuvadis, Lashkar-E-Taoyaba Zindabad!”
In response to this, a graffiti message on Saturday stated that the Sangh Parivar “is ready to take on anyone”.
On Sunday, another graffiti message in Urdu but written in English script warned that if anyone insults the Prophet, such person will be beheaded (“Gustak-E-Rasool, ek hi saja, sar dhad se alag”).
The state’s coastal region is considered to be highly communally sensitive. Even in the past, such mischievous messaging have led to communal disturbances.