Move to rename, upscale Dakshina Kannada hits 'appeasement' roadblock
Ambitious plan will fructify only if the district's communal issues are addressed with a task force, says Karnataka govt; BJP says minorities are being coddled
There’s a move to rename Dakshina Kannada after the district headquarters, Mangaluru. The coastal city supposedly has better recognition, and is expected to attract trade, talent, tourists, and investors.
Considering there have been 18 political murders in the district over the past 15 years, the Congress government in the state launched a Special Action Force (SAF) to check communal incidents. This is meant to boost public and business confidence in the district.
However, the Opposition BJP is putting its foot down, labelling the SAF initiative a move to appease minority communities.
Recent decision
The decision to submit a proposal to the Karnataka government to rename the district was taken at a meeting of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA), headed by the District Commissioner in the second week of July. DISHA operates under the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
What may have triggered the move is the recent decision of the state government to rename Ramanagara district as 'Bengaluru South' in May.
Dakshina Kannada ranks second in the state in the value of economic output at Rs 1.25 lakh crore in 2022-23. It trails by some distance Bengaluru South, whose gross district development product (GDDP) that year was Rs 8.59 lakh crore.
High-income earners
An education hub as well, Dakshina Kannada also has a good private healthcare system, hotels, restaurants, a unique cuisine, beaches and facilities for aquatic sports and recreation. The city bus service, which is privately run, is efficient.
A shortage of labour attracts migrant construction workers. But the district wants to be a destination for high-income earners.
Also read: Tulu forum demands renaming of Dakshina Kannada as Mangaluru district
Can it attract IT entrepreneurs who are vexed with Bengaluru’s chaotic traffic? Some big builders are positioning coastal Dakshina Kannada and Udupi as the 'Silicon Beach of India'.
Striving for communal peace
To achieve that ambition, communal peace is essential. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar observed in the state assembly recently that Mangaluru is dead a little past sunset — it has no nightlife despite having a vibrant student community.
An official attempt to keep the city open longer was reversed after three communal murders in quick succession.
There were 18 political murders in the past 15 years, Sudhir Kumar Reddy, Mangaluru’s Police Commissioner, told The Federal. Reddy took over at the end of May. He is also in charge of the SAF, which the state’s Home Minister G Parameshwara inaugurated in mid-June.
The SAF is tasked to monitor offline events and social media posts for hate speech and prevent communal violence from flaring up. It has three units of 78 persons, one each for Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Shivamogga districts.
The staff is currently undergoing a three-month training. The operations force is familiarising itself with its field of action to achieve “area dominance”, as Reddy put it. It will be a “lethal force,” he warned.
Muslims killed
Even before the initiative could take off, the state BJP criticised it, labelling it a move to appease Muslims. It alleged that the force has been set up after pressure from Muslim members of the Congress's minority cell, who had reportedly threatened to resign if the security of their community was not assured.
Also read: Coastal Karnataka: Development is talking point; voting is on communal issues
This came after the murder of a goods vehicle driver and secretary of a mosque, allegedly by those belonging to the Bajrang Dal.
It is alleged that the victims were randomly picked to avenge the murder of a ‘rowdy-sheeter' with five criminal cases on May 1. The rowdy-sheeter was an accused in the murder of a Muslim youth three years ago and was out on bail. A notification handing over the case to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) says that the members of the banned People’s Front of India, a radical Muslim outfit, were behind it.
'Affront to Brand Udupi'
BJP MLA of Udupi, Yashpal Suvarna, who was accused of stripping, parading and assaulting two cattle traders in 2005 and was prominent in the anti-hijab agitation of 2021, said in a Facebook post that the SAF is an affront to 'Brand Udupi'. It would tarnish the district’s image, he added.
According to him, Udupi has not seen communal violence for “many decades.”
Perhaps wary of alienating Hindu voters, Parameshwara said Dakshina Kannada should not be labelled as “communally sensitive”. He said this, ironically, while presiding over a peace meet.
Police communal?
After continuous communal cacophony during BJP Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai’s tenure, there was quiet after the Congress came to power in 2023. Until recently.
A three-year lull in tit-for-tat political murders was broken earlier this year.
However, questions are being raised over the communalisation of the police force itself. During the 2021 Dussehra festival, police officials of Udupi’s Kaup police station posted a photo on social media wearing saffron shirts over white lungis, and shawls with saffron borders.
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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was then in the Opposition, had tweeted that the government should have equipped the police with tridents as well to complete the transition to “jungle raj”.
Neutral force
Police commissioner Reddy is emphatic that the “police is a neutral force”. It cannot be communal, he said, because it’s monitored by the courts. “There is zero communalisation of the police,” he asserted. The police is pushed to the defensive when bias is alleged in investigative delays. But investigations take time, he added.
Reddy declined to give an opinion about the extent of communalisation in the districts under his charge as that would be improper of a police officer. But “in both communities there are rowdy-sheeters and there is support for them”, he said.
Despite Dakshina Kannada and Udupi being dubbed communally sensitive, there is no rioting between religious communities, unlike in some of the country's communal hots spots. But 'informers' like bus conductors, shopkeepers and auto rickshaw drivers stir trouble by acting as the eyes and ears of communal outfits.
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When a criminal is killed, why should his body be kept for public viewing instead of letting his family mourn quietly, Reddy asked. Why take the body in a procession and damage property along the way? People demand justice but they end up as “unlawful assembly” in the process.
The body of Suhas Shetty, killed in May, and hailed as a Hindu activist, was taken in a procession from a hospital in Mangaluru to his home, about 18 km away. BJP leaders attended his funeral; the VHP and the Bajrang Dal enforced a bandh in the city. The BJP announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to his parents, who also got an audience with the Governor in the company of the state BJP president.
Cracking down
Reddy said “every provision in law will be utilised” to check those disturbing communal peace.
“The law will come to your doorstep if you invite the law,” he told The Federal, adding that 13 persons have been arrested for offensive social media posts so far this year, against five last year. And 25 persons have been externed; five more than last year.
All this has happened even before the SAF began its operations.
If sincere efforts are backed by resolve and unwavering support from the state government, Dakshina Kannada can shed its “communally sensitive” label, and Brand Mangaluru can confidently tap into its perceived appeal, it is widely believed.
