Bengaluru riot: Muslim leaders meet CM Yediyurappa, demand judicial probe

DJ Halli Violence

The clerics also appealed to the state government to take steps to release the innocent among the arrested.

IANS

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Over a dozen Muslim clergymen met Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday and demanded that the state government appoint an independent judicial inquiry commission to probe into the DJ Halli violence that took place last month. The clergymen, led by Ameer-E-Shariat Karnataka, Moulana Sageer Ahmed, submitted a memorandum to the CM and strongly appealed that the state government should also act resiliently on those who tried to spread communal hate by posting indecent messages on social media sites. Speaking to IANS, Maulana Maqsood Imran Rashadi, Imam, Jama Masjid, appealed to the state government to take steps to release innocent Muslim accused, who have been booked in this case.  "The police have picked more than 300 people till date for their alleged role in the DJ Hall violence, but in reality, there are many innocents too who have been picked up. At least they must be let off is our primary demand," he explained. The memorandum stated that the main idea of seeking an independent judicial commission is to know the real truth as to who instigated P Naveen, nephew of Congress MLA Srinivasamurthy, to put up such posts on social media. According to the memorandum, the community strongly suspects this entire episode is orchestrated by someone who is hiding behind Naveen, who wanted to disturb the communal peace in the state. Opposing imposition of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the memorandum read, "Invocation of such draconian law would ruin the entire life of innocents, hence the state should not invoke this act in a hurried manner.” The note also added that the state government should take stringent action against all those spreading religious hate using social media platforms. It may be recalled that the violence began after religious sentiments were offended following an objectionable post on Facebook, by P Naveen. Earlier, he had hailed the Bhumi Pujan in Ayodhya as a victory for Hindus. He is the nephew of Congress MLA from Pulakeshinagar, Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy. Murthy, a Dalit leader, had defected from the JD(S) to Congress before the last poll and won it too, to the chagrin of the Congress bigwigs who had been eying the seat. In this incident, the legislator's house was torched by rioters and in a bid to quell the rioters, the police opened fire in which three people lost their lives. The police have arrested more than 300 persons so far in this connection.

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Bengaluru sees no change in number of active containment zones in 24 hours

Coronavirus

The city has now reported a total of 30,928 containment zones, out of which 15,806 (51%) are active, while 15,122 (49%) have returned to normal.

TNM Staff

Image for representation: PTI

There was no change in the total number of active containment zones in Bengaluru between Monday and Tuesday and the number remained unchanged over the past 24 hours, at 15,806. RR Nagara reported the most number of active containment zones in the city at 3,761, followed by Bengaluru South at 2,757, Bengaluru West at 2,313 and Bengaluru East at 2,109, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said in a bulletin. The city has now reported a total of 30,928 containment zones, out of which 15,806 (51%) are active, while 15,122 (49%) have returned to normal. The bulletin also said that Bommanahalli reported 2,081 active containment zones, followed by Mahadevapura at 1,301. Both Dasarahalli and Yelahanka reported less than 1,000 active containment zones at 952 and 532 respectively. Meanwhile, with 7,576 fresh cases on Tuesday, Karnataka's COVID-19 tally touched 4,75,265, including 98,536 active cases, while 3,69,29 were discharged till date, with 7,406 during the last 24 hours. "With 97 patients succumbing to the virus, the state's death toll increased to 7,481 since the pandemic broke on March 8," said the state health bulletin. In Bengaluru Urban, 3,084 new cases were registered, taking its overall tally to 1,76,712, out of which 39,681 were active cases, while 3,889 people were discharged during the day taking the total count of recoveries to 1,34,576.   The death toll in the city rose to 2,514 till date, with 41 in the last 24-hour period. Among the districts across the southern state, 405 new cases were reported from Davangere, followed by Dakshina Kannada 316, Mysuru 312, Hassan 291, Chikkamgaluru 262 and Belagavi 249. Discharges among the districts were 486 from Ballari, followed by Mysuru 476, Mandya 360, Dakshina Kannada 322, Koppal 235 and Davangere 226. Of the 794 patients in intensive care units (ICU) across the state, 263 are in Bengaluru Urban, 102 are in Hassan and 67 are in Dharwad.   With IANS inputs

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Daily COVID-19 data in K’taka underreported due to strike by doctors, say officials

COVID-19

The shortfall is expected to be around 1,500 cases statewide going by the trend experienced in recent weeks.

TNM Staff

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Officials in the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department on Tuesday said that the daily number of cases, recoveries and deaths of COVID-19 cases was underreported due to the ongoing strike by doctors.  This comes as the review reports were not sent to all the respective district headquarters by the government medical officers.  For instance, Bagalkote district saw zero positive cases for the day, while Udupi saw cases increase by only one. Similarly, Ballari, Dharwad, Hassan, Kodagu, Shivamogga districts registered no increase in the number of discharged patients. The shortfall is expected to be around 1,500 cases statewide going by the trend experienced in recent weeks. Even the number of daily COVID-19 deaths which has been in the range of 120-150, dropped to 97 on Tuesday. In an interaction with reporters, Dr GA Srinivas, President of Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA), said some of the doctors participating in the strike will not update data related to COVID-19 till their demands are met. The doctors said they will continue treatment and other functions in the ongoing strike barring updating the daily data. The primary demand made by the association is that the state government pays them on par with the union government health scheme. The KGMOA said that they will make a decision about the ongoing strike following a meet with Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, and Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN  Ashwath Narayan.  Speaking post the meeting, Dr Ashwath Narayan said the state government has decided to agree to their demands partially and the doctors will be paid incentives and urged the strike to be called off. However, the KGMOA remains unsatisfied. Reports said that the additional pay for these doctors would mean Rs 25 crore additional burden every month. Further, an official said that if the doctors’ salaries are increased owing to these protests, other state government employees might also hold similar strikes demanding pay parity with their union government counterparts.

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'Can't stay quiet and lose Kannada identity': Actor Darshan on Hindi imposition row

Language

Darshan’s statement comes after his colleagues in the Kannada film industry, actors Prakash Raj, Chethan and Dhananjaya, also spoke up against Hindi imposition.

TNM Staff

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On the account of Hindi Diwas, which was marked on September 14, Kannada film star Darshan Thoogudeepa spoke up against the imposition of Hindi at the expense of Kannada. He highlighted that the union government was promoting Hindi, which is one of the 22 official languages in the country, using the tax collected from Kannada-speaking people. Condemning this, he also said that imposing Hindi is also an attack on Kannada, an attack against their cultural identity and that the imposition must be protested. Taking to Twitter, Darshan said, “For self-respecting Kannadigas, Kannada is the state’s language. Until our dying breath, we will stand for the Kannada language. Kannada is truth; Kannada forever.” Darshan added a short statement to his tweet, which said, “For many years, the imposition in terms of learning Hindi has been seeing a rise. Already, many people at the borders of our state have not been speaking Kannada. If we don’t protest this and stay quiet, there will be a day when we will lose our Kannada identity and that time seems to be approaching very soon. Using Kannada taxpayers money to celebrate Hindi Diwas is condemnable. Hindi Diwas is celebrated by some North Indian states. Pluralism is the basis for the existence of India. Imposing Hindi, which is spoken by people in some North Indian states, is an attack against our cultural identity. We will fight for Kannada rights until our dying breath.”   ಸ್ವಾಭಿಮಾನಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡವೇ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ ಭಾಷೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಕೊನೆಯುಸಿರಿರುವವರೆಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ಪರವಾಗಿ ನಿಲ್ಲುತೇವೆ. ಕನ್ನಡವೇ ಸತ್ಯ, ಕನ್ನಡವೇ ನಿತ್ಯ pic.twitter.com/YfnGUaTToL — Darshan Thoogudeepa (@dasadarshan) September 15, 2020   Darshan’s statement comes after his colleagues in the Kannada film industry, actors Prakash Raj, Chethan and Dhananjaya also spoke up against Hindi imposition, sporting t-shirts against Hindi. The widespread opposition to Hindi imposition was recently started by Thoothukudi’s DMK MP Kanimozhi.  In an interaction with TNM on Monday, actor Prakash Raj, who has worked in movies of multiple languages, including Hindi, had said, “Hindi and English should be taught as languages but should not be forced as a medium of instruction. I know many languages but my learning and perception of the world are strongest in my mother tongue.”

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Biden wants to restore Obamacare. He may have trouble.

Trump has steered the health care system right in ways that Biden could find hard to untangle, especially with an uncooperative Congress.

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‘Will govt ban PFI, SDPI after Bengaluru riots?’: MP Tejasvi Surya asks in Parliament

Politics

The MP also asked whether the Union government will take action against Islamic outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami organisation's student wing Student Islamic Organisation (SIO).

TNM Staff

Member of Parliament from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya, on Tuesday asked the Union government if it is considering banning political outfits Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) in relation to their alleged involvement in the mob attack that took place in eastern Bengaluru on August 11. The BJP MP asked this unstarred question in the Parliament and said that many vandals associated with SDPI assaulted police officials and damaged property. An unstarred question is given a written response and not referred to orally in the Parliament.  "Whether the government is considering a ban on political outfits like SDPI, PFI and other such organisations following the incidents in DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations of Bengaluru recently, where many vandals associated with the SDPI assaulted policemen and damaged public property?" Tejasvi Surya asked in his question. The MP also asked whether the Union government will take action against Islamic outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami organisation's student wing Student Islamic Organisation (SIO). "Whether the government proposes to take action against Islamic outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami organisation's student wing Student Islamic Organisation (SIO) for its reported alliance with the Turkish Youth Federation (TUGVA), which is infamous for funding radical Islamic terrorism in India?" The Union government in its response to both questions stated, "As and when required, requisite legal action is taken as per law against those organizations whose activities have a bearing on national security and public order." Violence broke out in DJ Halli and KG Halli in eastern Bengaluru on August 11 after a mob gathered in response to a Facebook post termed derogatory by Muslims. The Facebook post was uploaded by Naveen P, the nephew of Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. A mob, angered by the post and the police's decision to delay taking action on a complaint against Naveen, attacked two police stations and the MLA's residence in Kaval Byrasandra. Read: How two police stations in Bengaluru became targets of mob violence on Tuesday night   The violence, which began on the night of August 11, was quelled in the early hours of August 12 after police opened fire at the rioting mob killing three people. The person who had complained against Naveen was Muzzammil Pasha, an SDPI leader from Bengaluru. He is among hundreds of people arrested in connection with the violence.  SDPI is the political offshoot of the Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamic organisation. SDPI started its political journey in Kerala before spreading to coastal Karnataka.  Senior police officials told TNM that to make a case for banning either organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), there should be evidence that the organisation’s actions are at war with the state. The exchange in Parliament comes after the Karnataka cabinet discussed the issue of banning PFI and SDPI in August. State Tourism Minister CT Ravi said that the state government would gather material evidence to prove that SDPI and PFI were involved in 'anti-social' activities before approaching the Centre to ban the two organisations. Read: Karnataka govt to gather evidence to seek ban on SDPI, PFI: Minister CT Ravi

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Karnataka Congress targets BJP after pics of Minister with drug case accused surface

Politics

In the pictures shared along with the tweet, Ashoka can be seen posing for a picture with an accused person Rahul Tonse along with others at a function.

TNM Staff

Sharing pictures of Revenue Minister R Ashoka with an accused in the drugs case, the Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday said there was a need for leaders from the ruling BJP, who are making allegations against those from other parties, to face the inquiry first. In a tweet, the state Congress said, "The pictures of R Ashoka with drugs scandal kingpin Rahul Thonshe suggests that it was not a casual meeting, but a close association. There is a need for leaders from the ruling BJP, who are making allegations against those from other parties to cover up their scandals, to be made to face inquiry first." ಡ್ರಗ್ಸ್ ಹಗರಣದ ಕಿಂಗ್ ಪಿನ್ ರಾಹುಲ್ ಜೊತೆಯಲ್ಲಿನ @RAshokaBJP ಅವರ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ಆಕಸ್ಮಿಕ ಭೇಟಿಯಾಗಿರದೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ನಿಕಟ ಸಂಬಂಧವಿರುವುದನ್ನ ಸೂಚಿಸುತ್ತದೆ, ತಮ್ಮ ಹಗರಣ ಮುಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಅನ್ಯಪಕ್ಷದವರತ್ತ ಆರೋಪಿಸುವ@BJP4Karnataka ನಾಯಕರನ್ನ ಮೊದಲು ತನಿಖೆಗೆ ಒಳಪಡಿಸುವ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ. pic.twitter.com/ov0fgOJaLV — Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) September 15, 2020 In the pictures shared along with the tweet, Ashoka can be seen posing for a picture with Rahul along with others at a function. There are also pictures showing the two feeding each other sweets. The Minister had on Monday denied any links with Rahul. "I had gone to a naming ceremony function relating to a party worker in my constituency, when a celebrity goes to such events normally several people take such pictures....it is common such pictures are taken during public functions, so can we be linked? If I had gone to his house it is a different thing," he said. Ashoka in response to a question said the photo might have been taken four years ago and since the coronavirus outbreak, he had not attended any such events recently. Both the parties have been releasing pictures of the accused with leaders as tit for tat. Earlier, photographs of actor Ragini Dwivedi campaigning for the BJP in the 2019 Karnataka Assembly bye-elections were shared widely. Ragini was campaigning for BJP MLA Narayana Gowda in the elections. Then, BJP released pictures of Sanjana and Ragini with various Congress leaders. Meanwhile, Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan's name has been linked to the drugs case, following his photos with one Shaik Fazil, who is linked to a casino in Colombo where allegedly such activities take place, emerged. However, Zameer too has denied his involvement while it is yet to be established whether illegal activities by influential people from Bengaluru did take place in casinos in Colombo.  

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