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Communal violence has badly smudged the copybook of Karnataka once again leaving two Muslim individuals dead and four days of paralysed life in the district that prides itself as the most progressive zone in the State. The coastal districts have become the active hatchery of the communal virus since 1983 when communal organisations began to mobilise the majority community against the hapless minorities and Dalits. Trafficking in cattle and inter-dining in temple premises came as cause celebre for the Hindutva bodies to inject venom in the public life. Only a deeper analysis of the situation may enable the victimized sections in addressing issues of communal disharmony.
These districts represent a distinct ethno-cultural identity in that the people here speak an amalgam of languages like Konkani, Tulu and Beary. Early dawn of modern education, highest per capita banking, elegant lifestyles, alienation from mainstream Kannada cultural life of the state are other elements of the development of the region which records high NRI remittances. The Western Ghats have acted as an effective barrier against emotional integration with Karnataka. This enabled the cultural influences from Bombay-Goa region in the north and Kerala in the south to make deep inroads into the coastal areas. Though Muslims are largely poor and uneducated, the flashy lifestyles of an elite class among them creates an illusory high-profile status of the community. Egged on by a highly partisan vernacular media, the Hindutva bodies have fanned jealousies and hostilities in the area. The bogey of petro-dollars is often peddled. In fact, VHP’s mobilization against mass conversions to Islam in Meenakshipuram found the local people most receptive to their appeal. Since then, the communal tensions have simmered and fuse has continued to be lit either in Puttur, Bantwal, Belthangady, Ullal or Surathkal. Elopement of a Hindu-Muslim duo, an individual conversion, trafficking in cattle heads, come handy for the communal outfits to take the law into their own hands. Even the recent violence was sparked following Bajrang Dal’s ‘seizure’ of cattle allegedly being transported for slaughter.
Encouraged by the presence of a coalition Government in the saddle in the State, some communally inclined ministers have found opportunity to bring back a host of police officers with communally tainted psyche into the area. No wonder then how an area that ignored the bandh call on Belgaum issue, could shut up over a petty issue of transport of cattle.
Given the consistent communal campaign over the last quarter century in the region, the two communities stand polarized. Muslims must plan a long-term strategy to reach out to the majority community, police and the press with facts. But there seems to be no mechanism in place within the community. Educated leadership is conspicuous by its absence. In fact the Gulf-ward rush of the youth dissuades the community youth from developing intellectual resources essential for building bridges with local communities. Atmosphere is such that sometimes even sagacious pleas with the local mosques to decrease sound decibles of minaret microphones provoke ire. Similarly there is need to think of livelihood alternatives for those subsisting on trade of bovine meat. Such initiatives from within the minority community may address half the grievances that bedevil communal ties. For the rest half, the Government must tighten the vigil mechanism.
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