Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the arrest of a kar sevak in connection with riots post Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka was indulging in vendetta politics. The state government however denied the charges and the arrests were made as part of routine procedure.
Condemning the Karnataka government, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “When people do not agree with something, they open old cases. Now they are opening the old cases and arresting people. The person was arrested out of hatred. We are doing legal, political and social struggles on the Hubbali issue,” ANI reported.
Karnataka BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra alleged that the state government was anti-hindu. “Karnataka govt is proving again and again that it is an anti-Hindu government. Yesterday in Hubballi, they reopened a 31-year-old case and Hindu worker Srikant Poojari was arrested, we strongly condemn this. We are calling for a huge protest throughout the state mainly in Freedom Park tomorrow against the Anti-Hindu government, Anti-Hindu Siddaramaiah,” he said.
However, Chie Minister Siddaramiah denied the charges and said, “We have told the police to dispose of the old cases. The police have taken action accordingly. We have not done any hate politics. No innocents have been arrested. We will take things forward according to the court’s direction.”
On the arrest of a person in Karnataka’s Hubballi for alleged involvement in the riots after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says “What should be done to the wrongdoers? Should we just leave them? We have told the police to dispose of the old cases. The police have taken action accordingly. We have not done any hate politics. No innocents have been arrested. We will take things forward according to the court’s direction.”
Siddaramaiah told reporters that a criminal is always a criminal unless acquitted by a court of law. He also took a dig at Pralhad Joshi and said Joshi does not know the law and is talking politically and not legally. “A criminal is always a criminal unless acquitted by the court. Does crime vanish with time? Does Pralhad Joshi know the law? Crime does not fade away with time. It remains as it is,” Siddaramaiah said.
Siddarmiah added that Home Minister G. Parameshwara had ordered police officials to pursue and dispose of old cases. So the police rounded up people involved in old cases. “Police have only obeyed the home minister’s direction,” he added.
The chief minister clarified that the police action was based on the direction by the court. On the BJP’s demand that the state government announce a holiday on January 22, when the Lord Rama idol will be installed in the newly built Ayodhya temple, Siddaramaiah said let the Centre do it since it is organising the event.
The Karnataka police on Monday arrested 50-year-old Poojary, a BJP member from Hubbali on Monday for his alleged involvement in riots following Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Renuka Sukumar, Hubballi- Dharwad Police Commissioner told ANI, “In many cases, the accused go absconding. From time to time, it is a routine police procedure that in such cases, we make the effort to trace the accused. In one such case of riot which was reported in 1992, we apprehended an accused. For us, it is just another riot case.”
