Chart a path out of dark woods
But turf war in this fishing town— where Muslims mainly belong to the Nawayat sect and speak Nawaity, which is close to Persian—was brewing between the RSS and Muslim organisations for control of the municipality. This led to riots in 1993, in which 19 people from both communities were killed. In 1996, Dr Chittaranjan was shot dead in his house. The probe was handed over to the CBI, which could not arrive at any conclusion over the killers.
Despite the murder, neither Bhatkal nor Uttara Kannada had witnessed any major communal incident till recent times. The BJP tried to paint with communal colours the death of one Paresh Mesta near Honnavar in 2017, and held massive protests across Karnataka. But the CBI, which probed the death, concluded it was an accidental death, not murder. However, the saffron outfit's electoral gains were massive. It has won all Lok Sabha elections from 1996 till now, except once, from the Uttara Kannada seat (two assembly segments here belong to Belagavi district).
However, the Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts were different. The worst years of communal violence in these districts were 1998, 2003 and 2006. In each of these years, at least eight people were hacked to death, many of them in a cycle of retaliations. In 2022, three murders took place in a span of only eight days; in 2025, three deaths happened within 30 days.
Why these killings and riots? The reasons are many: vigilantism, moral policing, hate speeches, desecration of religious places, targeting of interfaith relationships, use of religion as a political tool, public and police complicity in terms of informing, inept handling of the incidents by the government of the day, selective law enforcement, withdrawal of cases against the accused, and fake news on social media.
Even minor incidents become huge communal flashpoints these days, thanks to viral posts on social media. The incidents are so politicised that it's difficult to control the situation once the fire is lit. Political leaders from both sides of the divide often fan the flames.
Has this region reached a point of no return? Maybe not, if the government spares no effort taking tough steps to eradicate communal forces. It also needs to stay neutral, bring community leaders for regular peace meetings, cleanse the police of bias and nexus, and above all, unhesitatingly take action against anyone, including political leaders, involved in stoking communal tensions. But all this is easier said than done.
B S Arun | Senior journalist based in Bengaluru
(Views are personal)
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