Karnataka BJP leaders protest against arrest in Babri Masjid riots case, Shivakumar says ‘we never broke law’

BJP leaders on Wednesday staged a protest against the Karnataka government after the arrest of a person in Hubballi for alleged involvement in the riots after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Deputy CM DK Shivakumar has defended the state government's decision to arrest the person in this case.

“The Home Minister has already clarified that we have not arrested innocents, we don't do hate politics. Law is taking action against those who disturb the peace...We never broke the law in the way BJP did and booked cases on Congress workers and MLAs…," Shivakumar told media persons. Congress leader Jagadish Shettar also said the case was not intentionally opened for harassment purposes and the cops took action after looking at all the aspects of the case.

“It is a 30 year old case and even BJP ruled the state for so many years, I think 7 8 years but at that time why they did not think about withdrawing of all these cases against the Hindu activists...It (the case) is not intentionally opened for harassment purposes," he said. Karnataka police on Monday arrested a 50 year old man, who was allegedly involved in rioting in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya.

The police arrested Poojary from the Hubballi district in what was dubbed as a “long pending" case. The arrest comes 30 years after the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 and the accused, Poojary, was 20 years old at that time. It triggered a political furor in the state with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming that the Congress government in Karnataka is ‘terrorizing’ Hindu activists.

"The Congress government in Karnataka is reopening the 31 year old case. Two workers in Hubballi who had taken part in the were arrested and jailed. It gives an impression that they are being hounded for taking part in the Ram temple agitation at a time when people are eagerly waiting for the historic occasion of the consecration of the grand temple in Ayodhya," former minister R Ashoka alleged.

On the other hand, Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra on Tuesday accused the Congress led state government of being "anti Hindu". "Karnataka government is proving again and again that it is an anti Hindu government. Yesterday in Hubballi, they reopened a 31 year old case, and Hindu worker Srikant Poojari was arrested; we strongly condemn this," Vijayendra said.

"We are going to hold a huge protest throughout the state, mainly in Freedom Park tomorrow, against the anti Hindu government and anti Hindu CM," he added. The was one of the oldest legal cases in India which started in 1885 and went through several ups and downs before 2019, when the Supreme Court ordered the construction of Ram Temple on the disputed 2.77 acres of land and gave alternative 5 acres of land to Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, for building the mosque.

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