Mangaluru: The district minister in-charge B Ramanath Rai held a press meet at the Circuit House here, on November 13.
Addressing the mediapersons, Ramanath Rai said that on November 12, an innocent youth Harish was killed by some unidentified persons and Samiulla was injured in the incident, which the Congress government condemns. He further said, “I have visited Harish’s house and condoled the family members. When I met the family members, I came to know that Harish’s father is suffering from cancer and Harish was the only bread winner of the family.”
He further said that an innocent youth has been killed. “He did not belong to any organization. When he was going home, he was stabbed by unidentified persons.” Rai also said that the Sangh Parivar and the SDPI both are communal organizations. “On November 12, when the SDPI members went to give a memorandum in B C Road, another communal organization pelted stones which led to violence there.”
He also said that those who were involved in the killing of Harish will be punished severely. “We are investigating the case and anyone who is involved will not be spared. The Congress party will collect funds and help Harish’s family. We will try our best to help the victim’s family,” he said.
When asked about the police involved in shutting down shops in the city, Ramanath Rai replied that additional police force has been called from Kerala.
When asked if the celebration of Tipu Jayanti was the main reason for the communal violence, Ramanath said that the government decided to hold Tipu Jayanti. “When we were small we used to study about Tipu Sultan and at that time, no one opposed studying about him. Why are people now against celebrating the birth anniversary of Tipu?”
When asked about the opposition by the Christian community against celebrating Tipu Jayanti, Rai replied, “Don’t say Christians are against the celebration. Christians are peace lovers and they do not fight over anything. There are allegations that Christians are converting people to Christianity which is a false; they did not even react on it after so many allegations.”