Yediyurappa receieved threat calls from Saudi Arabia, Dubai

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and he himself were among several politicians

who received threat calls from Saudi Arabia and Dubai in the aftermath of two deaths in police firing during violent

protests against the CAA and NRC in Mangaluru in December 2019, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday.

"After the incident (Mangaluru firing), many of our MPs and MLAs received calls from Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

I received the maximum phone calls but I did not find them important. Some threat calls were meant for Chief

Minister," Bommai said during a debate on the law and order situation in the state initiated by leader of opposition

Siddaramaiah. The Home minister claimed that there was a larger

conspiracy, which everyone needs to understand. "I won't call it a local phenomenon. It has got an

international ramification and not limited to just one state. It is all over right from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,

Kerala and Karnataka," the Home minister said. Recalling the manner in which murders had taken

place in the last five to six years, including of some right wing functionaries, Bommai pointed out that even Muslim MLAs

in the Congress faced similar threat. "Tanveer Saith was attacked (with a knife) and bomb

was thrown at N A Harris... I know what U T Khader's brother had requested me

and I had told him that Khader should be very careful," Bommai said.

The Home minister said anti-national forces were using protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and

National Register of Citizens as an opportunity to create disturbance and violence in the country.

About the Mangaluru violence, he said those killed were not innocent as has been projected by the opposition

because there were criminal cases registered against them. Bommai suspected that there was a Kerala angle to

the violence "as over 1,900 phone numbers from Kasaragod in that State were traced in Mangaluru on the day of violence and

notices served on 375 people asking them why they were in Mangaluru on December 19."

He appealed to the opposition members not to speak in a manner that such elements get support.

"If we speak in a manner to get political mileage then everybody has to pay the price tomorrow," he said.

The debate on the issue saw heated exchanges between opposition Congress and the ruling BJP.

Calling the police firing in Mangaluru as "pre-planned" and directly blaming the city police

commissioner for it, Siddaramaiah questioned the government on the rule of law, as he expressed fear about danger to

democracy and anarchy taking over the system. Due to pandemonium, Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde

Kageri, had to adjourn the House briefly. "It was pre-planned by the police, the court itself

has remarked about police excesses, even the complaint by the family of two innocent persons killed in the golibar (firing)

was not taken, 21 people mostly youths were arrested in the case and sent to jail.. this is police excesses.

Karnataka had never in the past had become a police state," Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah even demanded a judicial inquiry into the Mangaluru incident by a sitting judge of the High Court

and the guilty should be punished. Two people were killed in police firing in Mangaluru

on December 19 last year as the protest against the CAA had turned violent, following which the city was brought under

curfew and mobile internet service was suspended. Stating that those killed did not belong to any party,

Siddaramaiah demanded to know how police had opened fire, despite instructions from the Chief Minister that there should

not even be a lathicharge. He suspected the role of some "unseen hand" behind the

violence and police firing. He also took on the government on the issue of recent

arrest of a parent and the headmistress of a Bidar school (now on bail) in the "sedition case" for their alleged involvement

in staging of a drama, portraying Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light in connection with the CAA and NRC.

In this context, the Congress leader recalled how the sedition charges were indiscriminately used against people

including Congress MLA U T Khader and a student holding a 'Free Kashmir' poster whereas no cases were filed against

ruling party leaders like Somashekara Reddy, Anant Kumar Hegde, and RSS strongman Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat despite their

"inflammatory speeches." Treasury and opposition benches clashed over

Siddaramaiah quoting the High Court's observations against police, while granting conditional bail to 21 people, who were

allegedly involved in Mangaluru violence, stating that the matter was sub-judice.

Participating in the debate, JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy rued that innocent people were

killed and framed in the Mangaluru violence. He also demanded formation of a House Panel to probe

the matter and submit the report in the House in a week.