Pratap Simha
Credit: DH File Photo
Mysuru: Former MP Pratap Simha has raked up another issue, related to a mosque, in Mysuru.
Speaking to media persons, in Mysuru, on Tuesday, he said, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka is planning to open the controversial mosque in Kyathamaranahalli locality of Mysuru city.
“As there is a ‘Talibani’ government in the State, a few Muslim leaders have initiated a process to open the controversial mosque. Whatever the government does, we will not allow its opening,” he said.
It has to be noted that the mosque in question is one of the reasons for the murder of a Hindu activist and BJP member Raju of Kyathamaranahalli on March 13, 2016, on MG Road in Udayagiri, a locality abutting Kyathamaranahalli.
The areas surrounding Kyathamaranahlli witnessed arson and violence, while protests were held across Mysuru city when Raju was murdered by a group of assailants on March 13, 2016, and also on March 14, 2016, when a procession of the body of Raju was taken out from KR Hospital mortuary to his house in Kyathamaranahalli. It was a clash between the group accompanying the procession, with another group that pelted stones.
The residents of Kyathamaranahalli allege that a delay in settling the row between two communities in relation to a mosque under construction claimed the life of Raju, a BJP worker, who was popularly known as ‘BJP Raju’ or ‘RSS Raju’, a fourth one from 2009 to 2016.
The locals said, the half-built mosque, which was earlier a madrasa, with plastered walls and roof covered by a huge tarpaulin, called ‘Alim Sadiya’ belonged to a trust by the same name.
“The carcass of a piglet was found at the site on July 2, 2009, when the madrasa was under construction. This had led to violence under the same Udaygiri police limits. Such was the severity that three persons, including a teenager were killed in the violence. The incident kept the minority dominated Kyathamaranahalli, K N Pura, Udayagiri and surrounding localities on tenterhooks those days,” they recall.
“Despite a court order, to maintain status quo, activities continued at the madrasa, which was allegedly being converted into a mosque. The community men used to offer prayers at the same place, under police protection, even as the issue remained unsolved. Since the murder of Raju, the make-shift madrasa was closed,” locals at Kyathamaranahalli recall.