Politics of Casteism or Casteism of Politics?

Politics of casteism or casteism of politics?

The Hindutva politics is all pervading and also its Manuvadi attitude. The same has shown its face again in the Vinayak Baliga murder case. While the actual killers are behind the bars and have been interrogated, their origins are all from the so-called lower castes. They are the Billavas, Devadigas and Kulals. The moving forces, the planners and the financiers have been all from the GSB community and devout “god fearing’ ones at that. They have been ardent devotees of the temple, the Math and have been active in all the rituals associated with the religious activities of the community! So, was the victim Vinayak Baliga. But, when it comes to protecting the guilty or rather the accused the community seems to have taken a stand that they must be protected from police interrogation as far as possible never mind that the victim too was from the same background. So, here till now though the actual executors have been apprehended the brains, the money bags, the planners and the motivators have evaded arrest and even one of them who was, managed to be out of bail.

The others remain outside the reach of the police. The last one to be arrested Shrikant is a Kulal an OBC and all the others who have been apprehended so far- Nishit Devadiga, Vinith Poojary and Shiva are also OBCs. It also looks as if they have been conveniently sacrificed or “surrendered” to save the skins of the GSBs who are the masterminds behind the murder. It has been always the policy of the Hindutva gang to sacrifice the OBCs and Dalits for their cause. If we take the list of those who have been killed for the ‘cause’ or have been arrested for such activities are all coming from the lower castes. One will never find an upper caste name or an arrest. It is that those who have been manipulating and masterminding these activities are never brought into the ambit of these criminal cases. While these people are ‘motivating’ the youngsters from these castes into ‘making sacrifices’ for the cause, their own children are abroad working as professionals in foreign lands many of them having taken up the citizenship too, while these youngsters languish in jails or join the ranks of anti-social elements.

We have come to know through very reliable sources that now that the lower caste elements have been duly sacrificed for the case, efforts are on foot to protect the upper caste accused or rather specifically the GSBs. While it is more important to get the person who paid for the bullet than the one who fired it, the police are being pressurised to curtail the investigations at the point where the trail ends! This is because of the caste considerations and expendability of these lower middle-class criminal elements. It has been known that though Congress is the ruling party, the casteist considerations overcome political affiliations! It is alleged that the Home minister of Karnataka Dr Parameshwar who had been already influenced by a so-called godman of Mulki roots, he has been also contacted by an ex-chief minister of Goa who is a GSB himself. It is also alleged that another GSB cabinet minister of the Karnataka govt. has been also exerting influence to go soft on the investigations! The union cabinet too has a good representation of the community and efforts are afoot to exert their influence on the course of investigations. Why should such hectic efforts be on to protect these people? Whose names are they shielding from the police?

There have been efforts to bring pressure on the top officials to go easy on these investigations but have not borne fruit due to the dogged attitude of the commissioner who is determined to bring the investigation to its logical end. He has resisted every effort to influence the course of events. Efforts have been made to bring pressure on the police by filing a complaint in the Karnataka State Human rights commission on them and also the complainants in the case! Strangely the complaint was withdrawn when orders were about to be passed. In the complaint filed by the absconder Naresh Shenoy, his wife Sumana Shenoy and his mother Meenakshi it was stated that he (Naresh) was not absconding but on a pilgrimage, (notwithstanding numerous attempts for anticipatory bail!) and in his absence the family was being harassed. They had also suggested that the papers of the case be taken over by the commission (as if it was an investigation agency). We do not know why this complaint about honesty, sincerity and violation of human rights was filed in the first place and suddenly withdrawn! Anyway, it looked like an effort to demoralise the police! Anyway, it does not seem to have worked as they are going on with their investigation without a break.

At the time of writing this, the available information is that the chartered accountant Jagannath Kamath, the (ex) BJP leader Vedavyasa Kamath who is supposedly on a tour of ‘foreign’ lands are under the scanner while the absconders Naresh Shenoy and his employee Vignesh Nayak are the accused to be apprehended. Manjunath Shenoy alias Manju Neereshwalaya has been arrested but is out on bail. Is it too much of a co-incidence that while all the OBCs have been already jailed the upper castes are not yet? Only time will answer this riddle.

Narendra Nayak
Deshapremi Sanghatanagala Okkuta seeking justice for Vinayak Baliga