Pramod Muthalik attack: Protest bandh flops

Poor response to Karnataka bandh called in protest against blackening of Pramod Muthalik’s face

Photo: Pramod Muthalik after the face blackening

The Karnataka bandh call given by the right-wing Sri Rama Sene, headed by Pramod Muthalik, on Saturday (February 13, 2010) generally evoked poor response except in a few places in the state, according to the police.

Pramod Muthalik attacked and face blackened: Video

Shri Ram Sene had called the Karnataka bandh in protest against the blackening of its leader Pramod Muthalik allegedly by activists of the Youth Congress the other day during an open-air debate on Valentine’s Day, hosted by a television channel in Bangalore.

The police later confirmed that two of those who attacked Muthalik are office-bearers of the Karnataka unit of the Youth Congress.

Shri Ram Sene and Pramod Muthalik are fiercely opposing celebration of Valentine’s Day.

The local TV channel, Asianet Suvarna, had invited Muthalik and many others to participate in the debate, titled ‘Love Wars.’

During the debate, Pramod Muthalik, who has been threatening to disrupt the Valentine’s Day celebrations, got himself involved in a heated argument with the other participants, especially with Agni Sridhar, a social activist who was formerly an underworld don. Agni Sridhar had threatened to “teach the activists of the Shri Ram Sene a lesson” if they attempted to disrupt festivities on Valentine’s Day.

According to eyewitness, as the arguments at the debate hosted by the TV channel was in progress, a number of youths rushed on to the stage, pushed Muthalik from his seat to the ground and smeared his face with charcoal. The offenders made good their escape before the police could catch them.

Muthalik described the blackening of his face as a “slap on democracy.”

The members of the Shri Ram Sene also tried to disrupt the screening of the Hindi movie My Name is Khan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, at certain cinemas in Mysore. The police arrested the activists after the screening of the movie was stopped for some time.

The police had tightened security all over Karnataka on the eve of the bandh and on the bandh day on February 13, 2010, and had taken into custody several leaders and activists of the Shri Ram Sene as a preemptive measure.

On the eve of the state-wide bandh, violence occurred in several places in Karnataka. A number of buses of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation were stoned, and a few buses jeeps were set on fire.

The District Congress Committee office in Dharwad was attacked. Incidents of violence were reported from districts in Karnataka such as Mangalore, Davanagere, Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga and Bagalkot.

The Karnataka State Government, headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, has ordered the police all over the state to deal firmly with anyone who try to disrupt the celebrations on Valentine’s Day.

However, Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya cautioned people celebrating Valentine’s Day against “crossing the limits” during the merriments, adding that the same rule applies to “moral policing, too.”

Pramod Muthalik and his little-known outfit had shot into the limelight in 2009, when the activists of the right-wing outfit beat up women at a pub in Mangalore, in southern Karnataka.