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BANGALORE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2013
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FEAR IS THE KEY Over 300 cases of vigilante attacks have been reported from Mangalore and other coastal towns in the last three years. The usual suspects are you-knowwho, and as M Raghuram writes, political designs lie at the root of these activities Protesters battle with the police in Mangalore. They were protesting attacks on churches and prayer halls by Bajrang Dal activists on September 15, 2008. —DNA
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his happened in February 2009.Five students of a local flight attendant course were on a trip to Puttur to survey the potential of taluk level towns in the local, national and international routes of airlines flying from Mangalore airport. The day was hot, and once they arrived at Puttur close to noon, they decided to cool it off at an ice cream parlour in the heart of the town. As they settled down and placed the orders, two of the youngsters — a man, Jose and a woman, Mridula — broke into their usual banter. When the orders arrived, the attendant brusquely asked the group to rush it up and scoot. Initially, they thought the parlour probably wanted to accommodate more customers. But when they looked around and found most tables still unoccupied, they sought more time. Before they could argue it out, a group of 10 men barged in. They dragged four of the youngsters out, and beat up the fifth black and blue. “They mistook me to be a Muslim since I had a goatee. Jose and Mridula tried to escape, but were caught and pushed on to the dusty road. They even told us why we were being beaten up. They wanted to know how I had dared to escort a Hindu girl. But when I said that my name was Santhosh and that we were on an academic tour, they pushed us into the corner of a shop and disappeared,” recollects the fifth. Three years later, Santhosh has a secure job with a ticketing company in Bangalore. But he hasn’t forgotten the horror, and is yet to understand why he and his friends were assaulted. The unwarranted, surprise attack on Santhosh and his friends was not an isolated incident. Over 300 cases of vigilantism have been reported in Mangalore and surrounding areas over the last three years. Boys and girls have been attacked in coffee shops, ice cream parlours, pubs, discotheques, college campuses, and even on the streets. Vigilantes have even beaten up brothers and sisters mistaking them for lovers belonging to different faiths. Cases have been filed against attackers, and many of them dismissed as ‘small disputes’. Every time a vigilante attack is reported, the names of Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagarana Vedike, Sri Rama Sene, and other Hindu fringe groups inevitably crop up. It is true that in most of the incidents, these organisations were involved. Yet, there have been unreported cases where rowdy elements took over and unleashed terror in the name of vigilante groups. It is not just vigilantism of the faith kind, but of the ideology kind too. Vigilantes in their recent avatar have started objecting to women visiting shops and establishments run by other faiths. Just a few days back over 30 Bajrang Dal men accompanied by the all-female vigilante group Durga Vahini surrounded a Roxx premium ice cream par-
NO LET-UP January 24, 2009: Sri Ram Sene vigilantes attack Amnesia pub in Balmatta, beating up girls. This attack was the first one among numerous which made international headlines.
February 6, 2009: Students of a flight attendant course in Mangalore attacked in Puttur. April 28, 2012: Mangalore college bans burqa for Muslim girls, but later retracts order and imposes uniform. First attempt in Mangalore to ban all religious dresses in campus. July 29, 2012: 50 members of Hindu Jagarana Vedike attack a homestay in Mangalore called Morning Mist; molest young women, beat up men, and damage property.
January 30, 2013: Bajrang Dal and its women’s wing Durga Vahini bring police to Roxx ice cream parlour and music lounge alleging young women there were being induced into drugs and sex.
All these pseudonationalistic campaigns are nothing but attempts to cartelise the youth in the garb of nationalism
Policemen cane activists protesting against vigilante attacks
IN THE WORDS OF PROF MARILYN MARTIS, SOCIOLOGIST AND FEMINIST... Vigilantism can be of two types: political and social, Usually, the former type comes into light only when there are elections approaching. The vigilante groups take up ‘stirring the sentiments’ of voters of a particular religion or faith, trying to give an impression that there are groups to take care of them from the ‘oppression of minorities’. This is false, since no minority can oppress majority communities. This is a convenient lie that political parties, which nourish vigilantism in society, hide behind in times of elections.
community,. In case of the Roxx ice cream parlour incident, though the groups brought the police to the spot, the police themselves had no business to take the girls to the police station when they knew that there was no case against them. In fact, in this case the vigilante groups had done more damage to the girls and their image than anything else.
—MF Saldanha, former judge and observer of coastal politics
The second vigilantism is of the sociological type. Here also many falsities are perpetrated, such as certain groups of people trying to corrupt young people of a majority
The voice of dissent against vigilantism of any kind has died down to a whisper. A city and district that boasts of 100 per cent literacy should do more than just whisper about such atrocities. What is still worse is the role played by the police during such incidents. Their actions state that they are being tutored by ‘some forces’ to go soft on vigilantism in Mangalore.
lour and objected to the owners allowing women to smoke and freely move around with men inside the establishment. Though they did not attack or physically handle the men and women, the police were urged to evict the youngsters. The police could not find a case, and the lot were allowed to go free. For Prasanna Ravi, an activist of the vigilante Jagruta Mahila Vedike, it is all about moral corruption being perpetrated on the youth by outsiders. “The law enforcing machinery should act either on their own or by stimulation from groups like ours. Our social values are being eroded due to the lax upbringing of youngsters by liberal parents. They give money to their children generously after paying their fees, taking care of their food and transportation; and their entertainment part is taken care of with this pocket money. Our city has many educational
institutions that have students from all over the country and even abroad. These students have enough money to spend on entertainment as they wish. This freewheeling spending is emulated by our local youngsters.” Moral policing, in other words. Liberal thinkers do not accept such arguments. They believe vigilantism is nothing but a political design that the Sangh Parivar has been weaving around society to make the Hindu political movement stronger. Argues Patrick D’Sa, state president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) , “Their argument is weak, and their ideology misplaced. In Mangalore it had also fallen into wrong hands. Most vigilantes have prior police records, many are disgruntled elements. They work on short-term ends, and I am sure they are deriving their sustenance from their political masters. It is a sinister design — that is what it is.” Former judge MF Saldanha, who
has been a keen watcher of developments in the region and vehement in his arguments on the growth of vigilantism in the coastal areas, argues, “We do not know how far this is going to damage our social fabric. It is the emergence of new extra-constitutional forces that will subjugate constitutional forces and take over the system.” Saldanha goes on to make a point, “Let us not forget the Khap declarations up North. Something like that will one day happen in our own backyard too, and there will be no constitutional force to protect our rights. All these pseudo-nationalistic drives and campaigns are nothing but attempts to cartelise the youth in the garb of nationalism. This is what happened in Nazi Germany under the Third Reich, and in New York during the Great Depression.” Ominous portents. The result is palpable fear, especially among parents. Prakash
—DNA
Nayak, father of a victim of the infamous pub attack of 2009, says, “In this struggle (between liberals and hardliners), we fear a lot for the safety of our youngsters. Vigilantism lures those who are less motivated or could not achieve anything. Many of them are school dropouts. How is it that they come and teach morals to our children who are in professional or postgraduation courses?” Liberal thinkers also raise the question of vigilante groups using nationalism as a façade. Santhosh Menezes recollects an incident of bullying. “I was travelling from Nantoor to Mahaveera circle the other day when I noticed a few saffronclad youngsters collecting donations up ahead. When my turn came, they looked at my car and demanded ‘500. When asked why, one irate youngster said it was towards membership of a vigilante group. He flashed me his membership card. The membership of course came with fringe benefits like a ‘hafta’ in the form of free lunch at eateries managed by owners of minority communities.” Once Menezes emerged from the blockade, after having refused to pay up, some of the youths followed him on motorcycles, abusing and threatening him all the way. Official records beg a different story. Only 120 vigilantes are said to be “active” in Mangalore. They are some more in Puttur, Buntwal, Udupi and Kundapur. If police figures are to be believed, only 120-odd people are holding a five lakh population hostage. Police sources says there are only 65 persons who are still left in vigilante activities in Mangalore. Many of them go out of field once they cross the age of 30, says a former vigilante Praveen. Something is amiss here, needless to say. But what is not, is the fear factor. It is all-pervading. m_raghuram@dnaindia.net
(From left to right) Sri Ram Sene members assaulting guests at a pub in Mangalore. The vigilantes claimed they were “protecting Indian values”; a church in Mangalore that was vandalised; college students protesting against the Mangalore pub attack —DNA