Mangalore: Ullal clashes given communal colour by vested interests: K J George

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (DV/MD)

Mangalore, Feb 12: Home minister K J George on Wednesday February 12 said that the recent clashes in Ullal were between individuals but some vested interests had given a communal colour to the incident.

Speaking to reporters at the circuit house and later at district Congress office during his visit to the city on Wednesday, George said, "Dakshina Kannada is a peace loving district. The unrest in Ullal was not communal violence, but clashes among individuals. But the incident was giving a communal colour by some for political gain. The police did a good job in controlling the situation."

"We have discussed the Ullal issue and other incidents that have taken place in the district, and instructed the police to take appropriate preventive measures if any such incident occurs in future," he said.

"The anti-social elements who provoked the Ullal clashes have no caste or religion. They just know to loot people and create problems. In Congress there is no difference of caste or religion. Whenever there is even an indication of a clash, a peace meeting should be convened at once," he told his party members.

"We cannot give orders to police when they are doing their duty, we should intervene only when they need our help," he said, adding, "I assure that the innocents among those arrested in Ullal clashes will be given bail and the guilty ones will be punished."

He also urged public support to government and the police in controlling moral policing and clashes.

On the Naxal issue, he said talks are on to try and bring them to the mainstream. "Both chief minister and I have clear views on this. If Naxals want to come to the mainstream in a democratic way, they are welcome. But if they want to resist talks and want to fight, we have Anti-Naxal Force in place to tackle them and take appropriate action," he said.

Replying to a query on underworld activities in the distric, he said many businessmen have been receiving threats and investigation is on. "I cannot reveal details to the media. The Interpol have been given information as a few of the underworld elements are outside the country," he added.

He further said that there had been no police recruitment for the four years, but this year 8,500 police personnel had been recuited.

MLA J R Lobo, who spoke at the district Congress office, said, "This is the second visit to the city by the home minister. In the recent past several incidents have taken place in the district and the Congress government is doing its best to take control of the situation. Our support is always there with the home minister.

"The city faced so many problems earlier, but every since Congress government came to power, it has been developing," he added.

He requested the home minister to take steps to expand the district jail and to provide better accomodations to the police.

Minister Abhaychandra Jain, Mohammed Basheer, B Ibrahim Haji, G A Bava, P V Mohan, Shashidhar Hegde, and Mamatha Gatty were present.

K J George then visited IGP (western range) Pratap Reddy and held discussions. He later inaugurated the new office of assistant commissioner of police (ACP) at Pandeshwar.