Karnataka: Tension in Shivamogga over Savarkar poster, cops issue prohibitory orders

Shivamogga, Aug 15: A youth was stabbed in the Gandhi Bazar area of Karnataka's Shivamogga, hours after a row erupted over a poster of Veer Savarkar put up at Ameer Ahmed circle on Independence Day.

The Shivamogga police have deployed additional forces in the area and have claimed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code in the entire city.

As part of the 76th Independence Day celebrations, one group had tried to tie Savarkar's flex to the high mast light pole at the circle, to which the other group objected and wanted to install Tipu Sultan's flex there.

Allegedly there was an attempt by some to replace or damage the flex and that led to a tense situation in the area, as a large number of people from both sides had gathered there. Police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to bring the situation under control and to disperse the crowd.

Officials have installed the national tricolor at the place where both groups wanted to install the flex. The BJP and other Hindu groups staged a protest demanding that they be allowed to install Savarkar's flex and action against the other group for insulting their icon.

In a similar incident, a flex banner erected at the Surathkal junction in Mangaluru naming the circle after Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar was removed after Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) workers raised objections to it.

SDPI's Surathkal unit expressed their objection to the banner and brought it to the notice of the police. The corporation removed the banner on Sunday evening after corporation commissioner Akshy Sridhar issued the orders for the same.

Mangaluru city corporation had earlier approved a proposal to name the circle after Savarkar on a request from Mangaluru North BJP MLA Y Bharath Shetty. The civic body is awaiting the government's permission to officially name the circle.

Sridhar said the corporation council had approved the proposal to name the circle after Savarkar. As the government is yet to officially grant permission, the flex banner was removed in view of the complaints.

A local leader of SDPI said the issue was brought to the notice of the police as Surathkal is a communally sensitive area. He also said the SDPI is against the naming of the circle after Savarkar.