200 gather at Town Hall to take pledge against hate crimes

Approximately 200 people gathered at Town Hall on Saturday evening to unite against casteism and Islamophobia, prompted by recent hate crimes.

“The trigger for holding the event was recent crimes such as an RPF guard murdering Muslim passengers aboard a train, and a dishonour killing in Kolar. There have been four dishonour killings in Karnataka in the last three to four months,” said Vinay Sreenivasa of Bahutva Karnataka, the organization behind the event.

“The reason behind such incidents is caste supremacy. So we are taking a pledge to develop an anti-caste mentality and looking for solutions to overcome this,” he said.

The event also highlighted recent instances of violence against a Muslim student by a teacher, the bulldozing and economic boycott of Muslims in various cities, sexual assaults of women in Manipur, and the denial of 15 months’ wages to pourakarmikas in Kanakapura.

Shailendra, an undergraduate student at Azim Premji University, stated, “I am participating because we have to speak up about what is happening. Also, students participating in politics is important.”

Varalakshmi of Slum Mahila Sanghatane said, “Muslims are being targeted and discriminated against. During the murder of Muslims on the Mumbai-Jaipur train, passengers did not intervene. What happened to our sense of humanity?”

The gathering demanded that the state government should organise a public consultation on ways to prevent honour killings.

They called on the central government to recognise the growing Islamophobia, and convene an all-party meeting to discuss how to implement Supreme Court judgments on curbing hate speech and mob lynchings.