Organised assertion through violence? What really happened in Bengaluru

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai recently said the violence in Bengaluru — the torching of a police station, assault on several policemen, and the attempt to burn down the house of the Congress’ Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, who represents the Pulakeshi Nagar (SC) constituency in the Assembly — was the handiwork of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Four people associated with the SDPI were arrested hours after the incident. A Facebook post, which was blasphemous and disrespected the Prophet, was the trigger for the rioting.
 

The area is now limping back to normal. But questions remain. What really happened in Pulakeshi Nagar? Was it just an attack by a gang of thugs, who were angered at disrespect towards their religion? Or was it a more organised assertion of Muslims, a trickle that could turn into a flood? Is it confined to Karnataka or finds resonance elsewhere in south India?
 

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Islamic rights group went through extensive ferment. In north India, political parties — like the Samajwadi Party — used the demolition to advance their political cause, while organisations like the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) sprang up for mobilisation and were later banned. But Muslims in south India — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — could not really relate to the politics of Deoband, partly because of the language barrier.

Moreover, by and large, south Indian Muslim groups were wealthier, better educated and relatively internationally aware, because of the influence of migrants and trade ties with the Gulf nations.
 

An independent researcher based in Singapore explained that the creation of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in 2006 was the result of a merger of a lot of older disparate Islamic groups, largely as a tool for mobilisation and social action. The PFI was born in Kerala but quickly grew in other parts of south India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raided it repeatedly and accused it of spearheading a weapons training camp at Narath in Kerala in 2013, where 21 PFI members were arrested. But in Karnataka, it was seen as an NGO, similar in structure to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). “In Karnataka, at least, the PFI took a lot of organisational elements from the RSS: It was projected as an organisation dedicated to social work. It was not only for the uplift of Muslims, but also Dalits and Christians. Its interventions were as a civil society organisation. Just as the RSS has the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, the PFI has similar organisations.”
 

In 2009, the PFI launched the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). It has been registered with the Election Commission as a political party and contested Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu (2016), Karnataka (2013 and 2018), and Kerala (2016), but drew a blank.
 

The PFI and the SDPI have worked on the gaps in the state system that represent a blackhole for Muslims. One of these is legal aid. As more and more Muslims found they were being arrested on specious grounds (like the 21 Muslim youth charged with triggering a pipe bomb at Mecca Masjid mosque near Charminar, Hyderabad,  in 2007 — all were acquitted in 2009 because lack of evidence), the PFI and the SDPI stepped in the breach offering assistance. In times of natural calamities, these organisations did extensive rehabilitation work, especially among low-income groups.
 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a charge against the Karnataka government is that it ignored health conditions in Muslim-dominated areas. True or not, this gave the PFI and the SDPI a chance to intervene. They raised funds for victims of the Delhi riots, those affected by floods in Assam and sundry other charitable activities. The Jharkhand government banned PFI for its proselytising activities.
 

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ignored demands for a ban on it in Kerala, even as a PFI member had cut off a hand of T J Joseph, a lecturer from Kerala's Ernakulam district, in July 2010 for allegedly insulting the Prophet in a question paper. The man who carried out the act contested a local election from jail and won.
 

In Karnataka, during the 2019 Assembly by-elections, the SDPI (Hunsur in Mysuru and Shivajinagar in Bengaluru) registered a significant presence. Former Congress leader Roshan Baig said: “Their (SDPI) party cadre is campaigning in mosques at 5 am. They go early morning during prayers and seek votes.’’ The SDPI wanted Muslims to shift from the Congress and vote for the party.
 

The Pulakeshi Nagar constituency in Bengaluru has 44 per cent Muslim population —the second-largest Muslim population in Karnataka, after Gulbarga. What happened there recently was a crime: But it was also an assertion.