BJP leader and former Karnataka ADGP Bhaskar Rao speaks regarding the incidents in Maddur, the protest and the planned mass Ganesha Visarjan.
Published Sep 10, 2025 | 2:05 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 10, 2025 | 2:05 PM
Bhaskar Rao with BJP Karnataka President BY Vijayendra.
Synopsis: Maddur in the Mandya district of Karnataka witnessed a stone pelting incident during the Ganesha idol immersion procession. BJP leader and former Karnataka ADGP Bhaskar Rao speaks regarding the incidents in Maddur, the protest and the planned mass Ganesha Visarjan.
Maddur in the Mandya district of Karnataka witnessed a stone pelting incident during the Ganesha idol immersion procession on the evening of 7 September. Police arrested around 22 people in connection with the case.
Another group retaliated by targeting a mosque, leading to a clash between the two communities.
Later, two separate FIRs were registered against 500 people in connection with a protest march on Monday; one for burning a Muslim flag and removing buntings erected for Eid Milad, and another for stone pelting on buildings and attempting to enter the mosque.
Following the incidents, several Hindu organisations jointly announced a bandh in Maddur on Wednesday, 9 September.
Meanwhile, Hindu organisations are preparing for a mass Ganesha Visarjan in Maddur on Wednesday. The procession is expected to have around 25 Ganesha idols, which will be immersed at a lake in Maddur.
On the sidelines of the protest, South First spoke to BJP leader and former Karnataka Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Bhaskar Rao regarding the incidents, the protest and the planned mass Ganesha Visarjan.
Q. Can you detail the plan of action of the BJP since a large number of party leaders are in Maddur?
A. Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra has constituted a fact-finding committee to know what went wrong. Former MLC Ashwath Narayan heads the committee. President of BJP’s Mahila Morcha in Karnataka, C Manjula, advocate Venkatesh, Vijayaprasad, I, and two local BJP leaders are part of the committee.
We need to see why such incidents are happening in Mandya suddenly. This is the fourth incident in the last two years. There was the Karegodu flag incident, a clash occurred in Srirangpatna, and an incident occurred in Nagamangala during last year’s Ganesha Visarjan.
Why is communal harmony not maintained here? What policy has the government adopted? What empowerment has the government given the police, and are they performing their job? Have all communities been taken into confidence?
As we speak now, on 10 September, you can see the district magistrate has promulgated Section 144 of the CrPC and no more than five people can assemble.
Look at the effectiveness of the Home Minister, the Home Secretary, the Director General of Police, the Inspector General of the Police and the SP. Everybody is outside, and they are not able to enforce the law.
When I was part of the force, we used to make announcements regarding the law, and no one dared to step outside. We also used to lathi-charge non-compliant people.
There is now a question of very weak and unplanned administration presided over by the Congress government. And if we point it out, they say we are politicising it.
They don’t know the basics of administration, and they don’t know policing. You are not able to empower your SP. The SP should be able to prevent such incidents. This is the fourth such incident, and the SP is sitting quietly.
The incident occurred around 6.45-7 pm, and the SP was not available till around 9 pm.
Q. Cases have been registered against 500 people. What do you think?
A. They (the police) need to have some professionalism. Registering cases against 500 people helps them pick up any 500 people over there. Then people will be arrested, they will have to go to lawyers, and they will be harassed.
In earlier times, we used to have an elaborate checklist before the Ganesha procession. I was an SP. We used to be so strict. We didn’t have the luxury of CCTV cameras, social media or a camera on everyone’s hands.
We used to have people from the Muslim community in the Ganesha committee to ensure harmony. There were Christians as well, and they used to come for Ganesha Darshan.
Q. What do you have to say about the Congress government’s claim that the BJP is politicising this?
A. The issue occurred. I would like to ask them: Wouldn’t you have prevented this?
They could have prevented this. There was no preparation at all. Since the riot took place — and since it’s a Hindu festival and the BJP being a right-wing party — it will stand with the majority of people over there. We stand by our people. Can we not celebrate our own festival and carry out the visarjan?
A few days ago, all the Hindus stayed silent and ensured that the Eid Milad procession went ahead peacefully. Did we interfere with the Eid Milad procession? What is this behaviour of provocation by pelting stones at Ganesha?
The majority is peace-loving, but there is a microscopic majority out there to create trouble. They should be controlled. The police should deal with them. The political game of the Congress government — the appeasement — has gone beyond control. They lost control over the people there.
Q. But doing the mass procession might create more trouble, right? Do you believe that?
A. The government and the district administration have all the resources to control the visarjan. If they show laxity in their job, we will also do whatever we want. We will uphold the Hindu faith. We are not against the Muslim majority there; we are against such people who want to create trouble.
We are strong, we have a good number (of people), and we can do whatever (we want), but we respect the law of the land.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
