After mobs in Bengaluru provoked by a social media post about Prophet Muhammad attacked the house of a Congress legislator and set fire to ...
After mobs in Bengaluru provoked by a social media post about Prophet Muhammad attacked the house of a Congress legislator and set fire to a police station on Tuesday ninght, the Bharatiya Janata Party stuck to its old script. The familiar plot points cropped up in social media posts by the Karnataka BJP and IT cell manager Amit Malviya: “peace loving Hindus” versus “violent Muslim mobs”, Congress and its Muslim appeasement, a conspiracy of “anti-national” leftwing and Muslim parties against the majority and, of course, Tipu Sultan. The Congress was so anxious to appease, the BJP alleged, that it even abandoned the Dalit legislator who was attacked.
Only a few lonely voices, such as SM Krishna, who switched to the BJP after a long career in the Congress, stressed on Bangalore’s character as a diverse city and the need to maintain law and order. As the ruling party in Karnataka, that should be the BJP’s main focus – to calm tempers, maintain communal harmony and ensure a fair investigation to ensure that the vandals are booked. This should not be another occasion to launch a political witch hunt, to pit communities against each other or score points against the Opposition.
The party has a chequered record...
