Published Nov 22, 2022 | 1:43 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 22, 2022 | 1:43 PM
The autorickshaw in Mangaluru inside which the pressure cooker blast happened. (Supplied)
The BJP has found an unusual baiter in an ideological peer — the Akhila Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) — over the Mangaluru IED blast case.
The Karnataka unit of ABHM has alleged that the blast — described as an act of terror by the Karnataka police — is a ploy by the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government to divert attention from “real issues”.
Even as the police and central agencies are probing the IED explosion case, the Hindu Mahasabha alleged that the BJP is attempting to divert attention from the voter-data theft case with the blast.
Rajesh Pavithran, state president of Akhila Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, Mangaluru
“The suspect in the cooker blast case in Mangaluru had been off the police radar since September this year. He was not only accused in two serious cases but also the police have established his affiliation with the banned outfit, ISIS. How would such a person escape police surveillance after he comes out on bail, and carry out another bomb blast in less than two months,” Rajesh Pavithran, state president of ABHM, asked while speaking to South First.
“This is nothing but a total failure of the double-engine BJP government and its police. They want such instances to happen so that (the public) attention is diverted from real issues and people will focus on such terror incidents,” he said.
The Hindu Mahasabha leader further accused the BJP of risking Hindu lives for political gains.
“Whenever election approaches, the BJP plays the Hindutva card. The BJP is literally using minorities to kill Hindus and, in their name, generate votes so that they remain in power,” he alleged.
“The BJP has misused Hindu Mahasabha’s statements on wiping out terrorism and saving the nation, and used it for political gains and to come to power,” Pavithran said, adding that the voter-data theft scam was not new.
“The Chilume NGO is closely associated with the MLA and Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan and the government should be answerable to the people for the voter-data scam,” he added.
WhatsApp status message that went viral on Monday
Meanwhile, several WhatsApp statuses and social media posters raising suspicion over the Mangaluru IED explosion case did the rounds on Monday, 22 November.
Several people, including those from the Muslim community, posted status updates questioning the “timing” of the crude bomb explosion, pointing out that the voter-data theft had grabbed headlines just before the blast was termed an act of terror.
A widely circulated WhatsApp status message on Monday
“One cooker blast to save the chief minister, ministers and MLAs from going to jail over the voter-data theft scam,” read one of the messages that went viral on Monday with a hashtag marking Chilume NGO, whose founder was arrested on Sunday night over charges of impersonation and data theft.
Another status message was sarcastic: “What kind of logic is this? A terrorist came in an auto to cover up the voter-data theft scandal.”
