Click to play videoBangalore: The city breathed easy on Monday after three days of communal clashes, but many citizens blame politicians for the violence in which a 12-year-old boy died and many were injured.
The violence in the eastern part of the city took place because politicians made the tense atmosphere worse. Fifty-seven-year-old Ibrahim Khalilulah, whose shop in Corporation Market, Murphy Town, was burned to ashes, blames politicians for ruining his business.
Khalilulah and many other shopkeepers in Corporation Market closed their shops after the first wave of violence on Friday during a demonstration against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s hanging. The precaution was not enough: next morning shop-owners found their properties burnt. Khalilulah blames politicians this.
“We've always lived here in peace. All communities in this area are like brothers. I'm sure this has only happened because of politicians,” he says.
SITUATION REPORT | |
 | Night curfew off in riot-hit areas, but prohibitory orders stay till Tuesday midnight. |
| “Situation under control," says Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who claims "vested interests" sparked violence to destabilise his government. |
| State government would consider banning processions and rallies that may cause violence. |
| May bring in law holding organisers of protests responsible for loss of life and destruction of property if there is violence. |
| 65 people detained in connection with violence; schools and colleges to reopen in affected areas on Tuesday. |
It's a common refrain among many shopkeepers and people who were brought wounded to the Bowring Hospital. East Bangalore has traditionally been a Muslim stronghold, with the seat held for seven consecutive terms by former railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief. The BJP won the constituency for the first time in 2004.
“We've said so many times to JDS (Janata Dal-Secular): ‘don't join hands with the BJP’. They made a wrong decision—the BJP can't protect people. The situation was mismanaged and people have lost faith,” says Congress leader and former chief minister Dharam Singh.
But the Congress can’t claim innocence. The violence on Friday began night after a party rally to protest Hussein's death. And while the police are getting the wrong end of the stick, the root cause is perhaps deeper.
State Home Minister M P Prakash himself says “manipulations by politicians” caused the violence. “Many people with frivolous intentions always try to exploit the situation to advantage and gullible people don't understand the manipulations by politicians,” says Prakash.
But in this game of political one upmanship, its the city's peaceful image that has taken a beating.
(With inputs from Shwetal Kamlapurkar)
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