Newsroom, Aug 12: Distancing themselves from the August 11 Bengaluru violence, the Popular Front of India and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India have expressed concern over the way the police handled the incident.
“The police always want a scapegoat to hide their failure. In #Bangaloreriots the SDPI local leaders who were inside the police station from evening were framed for rioting. The ones who helped police to control mob were labelled as culprits,” tweeted Anis Ahmed, General Secretary of PFI.
Elyas Mohammed Tumbe, Karnataka state president of SDPI, in a video-message alleged blasphemous post on Prophet Mohammad and police inaction in arresting the accused in an attempt to buy time was the trigger for the incident.
“Police did not initiate any action against accused Naveen till around 11.30pm and it is apparent that this was guided by the fact that he is the nephew of Pulikeshi Nagar Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy,” Elyas said.
"A group of agitated people who had gathered there were further incensed by the apathy of the police," he said, creating an atmosphere of discord. It is police failure that has led to loss of three precious lives in subsequent firing, he added.
Defending action of SDPI leader Muzammil Pasha, whom police have since arrested, Elyas said Pasha and other leaders are seen in videos trying their best with the police to pacify the agitated mob.
"Pasha with the local ulamas is seen beseeching the crowd not to lose their cool as the leaders are in touch with the police to sort out the issue," he said. Subsequent action on Pasha is a cover up for intelligence, government, and police failure, Elyas alleged.
Asserting that SDPI has always stood for justice and stands by development, Elyas alleged that a concerted attempt as usual is being made to needlessly drag his organisation in the apparent failures of the government.
President of Bengaluru unit of SDPI M D Sharief said police could have avoided the incident had they acted swiftly. Alleging that Naveen had shared such posts in the past too, Sharief said he went scot-free because of his political clout.
Abdul Majeed Kodlipet, former state president of SDPI, said that his party will never justify any kind of violence. He, however, contended that the delay in police action against the person who had been posting derogatory messages on Facebook for quite some time led to the violence.
“The violence has culminated in the police firing which resulted in the death of three innocent people. The government should announce compensation to the families of the victims,” he said adding that SDPI also will help the families of the victims.
He said the vehicles of SDPI leaders who were helping the police to control the mob were also set afire by the violent mob.
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