Mangaluru: Bajrang Dal did not Strip Shakir, they Stripped MLAs and Ministers of DK – SDPI Haneef Khan

Mangaluru: The Popular Front of India in association with other organizations staged a protest in front of the DC office on August 26, against the recent assault on Shakir at Attavar.

Addressing the protesters, President of DK Popular Front of India Muhammed Haneef said that an innocent youth was assaulted by the members of Sangh Parivar after tying him to an electric pole and stripping him, which the PFI condemns. “This is an inhumane act and cannot be tolerated. The attackers later threatened the victim’s family members to withdraw the case but Shakir’s family refused to withdraw the case. So one of the Bajrang Dal activist threatened Shakir’s brother that if the case will not be withdrawn he will have to face the consequences.” Haneef further said, “We want justice and the district administration should take stringent action against those who have assaulted Shakir. Such incidents should not occur. A thorough investigation should be done and the culprits should be severely punished.”

Addressing the protesters, Convener of Dalita Sangharsha Samiti Puttur Anand Mithabail said that the district administration and the police department should not bow their heads in front of politicians because they are public servants and their duty is to protect the rights of the people and provide them safety. He also said, “If atrocities on minorities continue, we will clean the dirt by tearing your (BD’s) chaddis.” He warned the “chaddis” not to assault anyone in the name of Hindutva.

President of DK SDPI Haneef Khan Kodaje said that nowadays atrocities on minorities have been increasing in the name of illegal cow slaughter, cow trafficking, Hindu girls talking to Muslim boys, etc. On August 24, a Muslim youth, Shakir, was stripped and assaulted by the Bajrang Dal activists. He was tied to an electric pole and assaulted with iron rods. The incident spot is about 2 km away from the Pandeshwar police station but the police reached there after one hour of the incident. After pressure from ministers, 13 people have been arrested and sent to Bellary jail. But arresting 13 people will not solve the problem; the police should take strict action against the assaulters and the people behind them and also take measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

He further said that after the assault, when Shakir and the girl were brought to the police station, one Anil from Bajrang Dal asked Shakir’s brother how many of them were there. When Shakir’s brother replied that they were few, Anil said, “We are 150; it’s better if you withdraw the case”. “When they refused to withdraw the case, Anil threatened them to face the consequences. When Shakir refused to withdraw the case, another girl who accompanied the girl (Komal) threatened to file a rape case against him. Anil and the girl claiming to be Komal’s sister should be interrogated and strict action should be taken against them.”

Haneef further said, “The Bajrangis did not strip Shakir, but the RSS stripped the ministers and MLAs of the district.” He also challenged the 150 Bajarangis to have a match with 25 PFI members in the Nehru Maidan with the police commissioner and DC as the umpires. “We are ready to die for justice, we do not have bodyguards like Jagadish Shenava and Sharan Pumpwell.” He also said that the people of DK should not be the victims of Hindutva, because Hindutva is not a religion. “It is just a Dharma. Let all the Hindu people ask Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat which Dharma they belong to, he will not have an answer.”

He also said, “Kalladka Bhat is talking about cow trafficking; let him tell the Union government to ban the cow slaughtering, we will welcome it. Kalladka Bhat knows that the Union government will not ban beef because 5 lakh tonnes of beef is being exported from India to other countries. From the beef export, the government makes Rs 7000 crore profit and the profit is being spent for organizing RSS programmes. Kalladka Bhat had also criticized the state Health minister as “kanthri” instead of addressing him as Khader because he is a Muslim. If he would have insulted Ramanath Rai, he would have been given a befitting response.” He also warned the Sangh Parivar to stop assaulting minorities to avoid problems in future. He urged the people of DK to join hands with PFI to curb the atrocities on minorities.

Director of inter-religious dialogue, Fr William Martis said, “We were all born in this country and we have the right to live here. Our religions may have come from outside, but Muslims and Christians did not come from outside. We were born and brought up in this country. Why should anyone dictate us what we should eat or not? It is our own choice. The Aryans are lying saying that they do not eat cows. In olden days, they used to eat cows. But when Jains and Buddhists stopped eating meat, the Aryans also thought to become like them.”

“I was a ardent lover of Congress and I thought after Congress came to power, atrocities on minorities would reduce but I was wrong. The recent BBMP elections in Bengaluru proved that both the Congress and the BJP are the same.”

Recalling an incident, he said that a police constable once told a Christian brother “Your government did not come yet”. “This means that a government employee has the guts to say that it is his government that is in power. He said that many police officers are supporting the BJP government. When BJP was in power, they were arresting the innocent and assaulting them before releasing.”

He also said, “I have opened a bank account in Mulky to receive money from Modi. Modi has promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh after bringing back the black money from Swiss bank. All rich people who had deposited money in the Swiss banks have withdrawn and deposited their money somewhere else. Whatever the poor people have saved in the bank will be brought back. The BJP got only 31% votes while 69% percent are against them. The Congress when they had won the elections had received 39% votes. If the 69% wake up, there is no place for the Sangh Parivar.” He also said, “We were living in harmony, there was no discrimination. We used to celebrate festivals together, but now the RSS and Sangh Parivar are trying to divide the district. On August 15, the Independence day was celebrated, the Christians celebrated mass and hoisted the national flag. In the mosque too, the Muslims hoisted the National flag, but no flag was hoisted in any of the temples or Maths. They say they are patriots but why don’t they hoist the National flag in the temples on Independence day?”

Fr William also said that Modi went to Abu Dhabi and said that Hindus and Muslims are all one. “But Muslims in Abu Dhabi know him very well. If he says the same in India, people will stone him. He does not have the guts to talk in Parliament. Now, there is no “Chai pe charcha”; his chai has become cold and now it is only an ice cold water charcha.” He also said that Modi cannot fool people with his lies and that his “days are nearing” and his “power will not last for long”.

The demand for the One Rank One Pension scheme was accepted by the UPAgovernment in 2014 and the government was supposed to transfer Rs 500 crore to the defence pension account for implementing the scheme. The decision was to come into effect in 2014-2015, but the scheme was not implemented. The ex-servicemen staged a protest demanding the implementation of the scheme.

Former Mayor Ashraf said, “Hereafter, we have to take an oath that we will not appoint any Hindu girls in our offices or malls. Kalladka Bhat is criticizing Muslims because he is not getting respect from his own people. They hate him because of his tongue; because of Bhat, Hindus are getting a bad name. Even the RSS hates him. He calls Muslims as cattle thieves. If Muslims are thieves, you (Kalladka Bhat) are a big thief because the cows seized from Muslims by your goons are being sold to slaughter houses.” “The police should have taken action against him for insulting Muslims, but the police could not find a pen to file a complaint against him. If the police will not stop Bhat from insulting Muslims, the situation might get worse in Dakshina Kannada,” he warned.

Secretary of PFI Shafi Bellare also spoke on the occasion, General Secretary PFI Muhammed Sharief, President Udupi PFI Aalam, President Puttur PFI Shamsuddin, president Beltangady PFI Haneef T S, General Secretary PFI Bantwal Saleem and others were also present.

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