Udupi Lathi Charge - CPI (M) Demands Suspension of Policemen
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SM)
Udupi, Dec 28: The members of CPI(M) on Friday December 28 staged a protest near Clock Tower condemning the police action on their members during their protest on Thursday December 27 near Sanskrit College.
On Thursday, the police had resorted to lathi charge after CPI(M) members tried to gatecrash into Car Street where barricades had been put up to restrict their entry into Sri Krishna Temple. The CPI(M) protest was against the ritual of 'Made Snana' and caste discrimination in serving food at Sri Krishna Temple. Several protestors and policemen were injured in the violence.
On Friday, the CPI(M) protested against Udupi circle inspector Maruthi Nayak and other policemen demanding their suspension and urging for an enquiry against them. "We will continue our fight till we get justice," said CPI(M) Vittal Poojary.
CPI(M) district secretary Bala Krishna Shetty said that while all policemen were not creating problems, some of them were deep into politics. "Whenever anything happens, they are ones who suffer most, but it is their responsibility to keep up their respect," he said.
He further said that protests which were held in Kundapur, Bangalore and Udupi on Friday will continue till action is taken against the policemen. "The lathi charge could have been avoided if the administration had intervened and if a meeting had been held between the Math authorities and CPI (M) members. Hence, the SP and DC also acted irresponsibly," he said.
K S Laxmi, Venkatesh Kori, Dogu Suvarna and others were present.
Press Meet
Earlier in the day, the CPI(M) leaders called a press meet and appealed to Pejawar Swamiji not to interfere in the political affairs of the district.
Sriram Reddy said that on December 27, the CPI(M) members wanted to have a discussion with the management of Sri Krishna Temple. "We are not criminals or terrorists to deserve lathi charge. We did not organize any secret protest. We had a legal stand on the matter and fufilled all the formalities before organizing the protest, with prior intimation to the SP, DC and the Math. Yet, they did not make any arrangements with the Math officials to meet us," he said.
He also alleged that Pejawar Math, the BJP government and the police have been conspiring to break CPI(M). He sarcastically added, "However, we are thankful to the policemen for hitting our CPI(M) workers, as it brought the state's attention on us. We have now received public support from different parts of the state.
"Krishna Math comes under the muzrai department, hence the government should take decision on all matters, especially on rituals," he said.
"If no action is taken in the case, next time we will enter the Math directly without any prior intimation," he warned.