Siddaramaiah condemns killing of two in Mangaluru firing, calls it "inhumane"

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday condemned the killing of two people in the alleged police firing in Mangaluru yesterday and called it "inhumane".

"Yesterday in Karnataka whatever happened in Mangaluru was inhumane. It happened because of police atrocity. People were protesting peacefully. Police killed the two innocents in Mangaluru. Across the nation, people are protesting irrespective of caste or religion," while speaking to media in Bengaluru.

On Thursday, two people were killed in Mangaluru in the alleged police firing after protests against the new citizenship law turned violent despite prohibitory orders in the area.

The Congress leader also said that people have the right to protest against government policies that are "unconstitutional" and "wrong."

"Even if the government has got a clear mandate, the freedom of expression and freedom to protest cannot be curbed as it has been given by the Constitution," he added.

Talking about the CAA, he said, "In many states of the country people are venting their anger against the CAA. In Karnataka section 144 has been imposed unnecessarily. It is not required."

"The government is intentionally trying to curb the freedom of speech and expression which is again a part of our constitution. This reminds me of Hitler's rule. Never in history has this happened. It is a kind of an undeclared emergency in the state, " he added.

He also stated that the police need to make better efforts to maintain law and order in the region and accused them of resorting to violence during the peaceful protest. "Some of the people were protesting peacefully without any weapons. In Mangaluru, police themselves provoked violence," he said

"There are many ways to bring back normalcy when protests become violent. The police have tear gas, they have rubber bullets and water cannons. And the last step is always shooting. Even when orders were not issued by BS Yediyurappa to kill people, the police shot and killed them," the senior Congress leader added.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.