In an attempt to prevent any incidents of violence on the contentious occasion of Tipu Jayanti, the Karnataka government will not allow any procession – for or against the celebrations – to be taken out. The decision was taken on Monday after Karnataka Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara held a security review meeting with top police officials of the state police, headed by Director General-Inspector General of Police Neelamani Raju.
After the meeting, it was concluded that all celebrations on 10 November will be held indoors and organisers cannot stick or hang posters and banners anywhere outside the venue.
The Home Minister also announced that the celebrations in Bengaluru will be held at Ravindra Kalaskhetra instead of the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha, keeping in mind the security issues experienced last year.
Across the state, Karnataka State Reserve Police and Rapid Action Force will also be deployed to mitigate any untoward incident. Moreover, the police will keep an eye out on social media, to take action against provocative social media posts.
It was earlier reported how the state government, under the chief ministership of HD Kumaraswamy, will continue to observe the controversial event started by his predecessor Siddaramaiah, despite consistent opposition from BJP and Hindutva organisations.
It may be recalled how since 2015, the event has created a law and order situation with multiple incidents of violence. In fact, in 2015, two persons lost their lives to violence in Kodagu after two groups clashed over the incident.
In the last two years, authorities had issued prohibitory orders and heavy police presence on the ground in sensitive areas in the state to contain incidents of violence.
Since 2015, the issue had been a matter of slugfest between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP had opposed the celebrations, calling it “anti-Hindu” and “Muslim appeasement”, while Congress maintained that Tipu was a secular leader who fought the British.
(This article was originally published on The News Minute.)
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