Islamic Fundamentalists are angry with Varthabharti, a Kannada daily for its coverage on BJP. According to a Newslaundary report, the newspaper’s executive officer Mohammed Muslim received threats from an anonymous caller. The caller said, “What was the need for Varthabharati to publish the release of BJP’s manifesto on page 1?” Varthabharti published an interview of Mangaluru North BJP candidate, Dr Bharat Shetty on 3rd May and after that Mohammed Muslim started getting threat calls on his Mobile and landline number. The newspaper follows a centrist line and is famous for its balanced reporting. Mostly, it has readership in the coastal belt. Because the owner of the newspaper is a Muslim, the Islamic Fundamentalists want the newspaper to follow their line and blackout all the news related to BJP and other right-wing organizations.
According to the Newslaundry report, anonymous caller threatened Mohammed Muslim of bodily harm as well as attack on the Newspaper. Mohammed Muslim said “When they first called, they asked me why Varthabharati was carrying news of BJP’s poll plans and campaigns. The second call, they said that the paper should not have carried the interview of BJP candidate for Mangaluru North, Dr Bharat Shetty, as it would give undue advantage to the BJP and dim the chances of Congress candidate Mohiuddin Bava. The caller also said that the paper should only highlight candidates of whichever party they were supporting. I tried to convince them that professional ethics demanded that we treat all news on the same platform.” Complaint filed by Mohammed Muslim with the Mangaluru South police station at Pandeshwar reads, “The anonymous caller had called my mobile number and had objected to the publication of Dr Bharat Shetty’s interview. The caller asked if Bharat Shetty has paid money to the paper. The caller unleashed a barrage of unparliamentary words against me and the paper. This was followed by another call in the evening. Later, another caller from a different number reached the landline number of the office and said you people had joined hands with ‘chaddis’ and you have sidelined Mohiuddin Bava for which you will pay.”
The incident in Mangaluru involving Mohammaed Muslim clearly proves that there are some elements in Karnataka who don’t want a Nationalist party like BJP to come to power in the state. In Kerala and Karnataka, Communist and Congress ruled states, respectively, radical and violent organization like PFI and SDPI have a free hand. Karnataka is known as the Gateway to South Indian politics and if the BJP wins Karnataka elections, it would further increase its clout in rest of the part of South India. So these radical Islamist organizations, along with regional parties, Congress party and Communist party want to stop the BJP in Karnataka to save their castles or existence in other states.
The first and the foremost party which don’t want the BJP to come to power in Karnataka is PFI. PFI is a notorious pro-terrorist, radical islamist fundamentalist, anti-Hindu organization. It is well known for its terrorist activities and that’s why it has been banned by the Jharkhand government.
BJP has been demanding the ban on PFI and its political wing SDPI on the grounds of their involvement in killing of many Hindu activists in Karnataka and Kerala. But the Karnataka state government has dropped as many as 100 cases against PFI activists. The PFI is involved in ruthless killings of RSS workers, BJP workers, love Jihad and other hate crimes. In 2014, Kerala government informed the High Court about 27 communally motivated murder cases, 86 attempts to murder cases and 106 communal cases with PFI’s active involvement in all of them. In 2012, PFI activists killed N. Sachin Gopal and Vishal, both ABVP activists. The PFI was involved in the murders of Hindu political faces like Prashant Poojari, DS Kutappa, Manjunath, Sharath Madiwula, etc. In 2018, the PFI also called for poisoning the Kumbha waters to kill Hindus in large numbers.
The other one is SDPI, political wing of PFI. This party is also very controversial. In 2014, party workers of the SDPI threatened to disrupt the program of a private school in South Kerala if they didn’t remove Vande Mataram from their Independence Day program. They said that some of the words in the song were against the religious beliefs of the Muslim community. The school also dropped the namaste gesture from a dance number performed during Independence Day celebrations, inviting sharp criticism from various quarters. Four SDPI activists were arrested for attack on two Communist Party of India (Marxist) members at Mangalam, Tirur, on 29 January 2014.
The most surprising thing is media’s silence on the criminal activities of these two radical organizations as well as in the case of Muhammed Muslim and his newspaper in Mangaluru. These organizations are favorites of Liberal Media, the very same media who sees militant and Hindu extremism in stickers of Hanuman. Because the BJP will not tolerate the activities of such terrorist elements, they don’t want the BJP to be in power. Clear proof of BJP’s tough stand on criminals and terrorists are encounters of criminals under CM Yogi’s rule in UP, killings of terrorists in Kashmir, encounter of absconding SIMI terrorist in MP, killing of Maoists and reduction in the number of districts affected by communist extremism and there are many more examples of zero tolerance towards crime and criminals in BJP ruling states. The political parties who indulge in dividing Hindus, vote bank politics, minority appeasement, and caste politics want the BJP to remain out of power in Karnataka as well as at the Centre. But, despite all this as Atal Bihari has said, “Andhera Hatega, Suraj Nikalega aur Phool Khilega.”
