<p>The violence that erupted in Ballari on January 1, leaving a young Congress party worker dead, is a chilling reminder that the district’s troubled past is never too far beneath the surface. </p><p>What began as a dispute over banners put up for the unveiling of a Maharishi Valmiki statue quickly spiralled into stone-pelting, gunfire, and a breakdown of public order, reviving memories of the so-called ‘Republic of Ballari’, when political power, private muscle, and illegal wealth fused into a parallel state. </p><p>At one level, the trigger to the violence was banal: the installation of banners near the residence of controversial mining baron and BJP MLA G Janardhana Reddy, objected to by his supporters. At another, it was deeply symbolic. The Valmiki statue was not merely a cultural project. It was a high-stakes political statement aimed at the Valmiki community, a formidable vote bank in Kalyana Karnataka. The confrontation was, therefore, less about banners and more about political turf.</p>.<p>That the volatile rivalry between Janardhana Reddy and Bellary City Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy was allowed to escalate raises disturbing questions about intelligence gathering and policing failures. The swift suspension of SP Pavan Nejjur – who had taken charge just hours earlier – underscores a systemic breakdown. The official grounds for his removal were serious: failure to reach the site promptly, remaining unreachable to senior officers during the crisis, and an inability to provide a coherent briefing, relying instead on second-hand information. Whether Nejjur was genuinely negligent or a convenient scapegoat, the police clearly failed to assert authority when it mattered most.</p>.<p>Equally alarming is the ease with which firearms entered a political confrontation. Even if private security personnel are legally permitted to carry weapons, viral visuals of a gunman firing openly expose a dangerous normalisation of political gun culture. </p><p>This points to a regulatory vacuum around armed retainers – their verification, training, and accountability. Ballistic reports suggesting that the fatal shot was fired at close range from a private weapon heighten the gravity of the issue. Ballari’s chequered history makes these questions urgent, not academic. </p><p>The government must go beyond suspensions and rhetoric. A thorough probe, a state-wide audit of private firearm licences, stricter norms for armed security, and clear accountability for intelligence lapses are imperative. Above all, the state must reassert that no leader, legacy or vote bank is above the rule of law. Ballari cannot be allowed to relapse into a republic unto itself.</p>
<p>The violence that erupted in Ballari on January 1, leaving a young Congress party worker dead, is a chilling reminder that the district’s troubled past is never too far beneath the surface. </p><p>What began as a dispute over banners put up for the unveiling of a Maharishi Valmiki statue quickly spiralled into stone-pelting, gunfire, and a breakdown of public order, reviving memories of the so-called ‘Republic of Ballari’, when political power, private muscle, and illegal wealth fused into a parallel state. </p><p>At one level, the trigger to the violence was banal: the installation of banners near the residence of controversial mining baron and BJP MLA G Janardhana Reddy, objected to by his supporters. At another, it was deeply symbolic. The Valmiki statue was not merely a cultural project. It was a high-stakes political statement aimed at the Valmiki community, a formidable vote bank in Kalyana Karnataka. The confrontation was, therefore, less about banners and more about political turf.</p>.<p>That the volatile rivalry between Janardhana Reddy and Bellary City Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy was allowed to escalate raises disturbing questions about intelligence gathering and policing failures. The swift suspension of SP Pavan Nejjur – who had taken charge just hours earlier – underscores a systemic breakdown. The official grounds for his removal were serious: failure to reach the site promptly, remaining unreachable to senior officers during the crisis, and an inability to provide a coherent briefing, relying instead on second-hand information. Whether Nejjur was genuinely negligent or a convenient scapegoat, the police clearly failed to assert authority when it mattered most.</p>.<p>Equally alarming is the ease with which firearms entered a political confrontation. Even if private security personnel are legally permitted to carry weapons, viral visuals of a gunman firing openly expose a dangerous normalisation of political gun culture. </p><p>This points to a regulatory vacuum around armed retainers – their verification, training, and accountability. Ballistic reports suggesting that the fatal shot was fired at close range from a private weapon heighten the gravity of the issue. Ballari’s chequered history makes these questions urgent, not academic. </p><p>The government must go beyond suspensions and rhetoric. A thorough probe, a state-wide audit of private firearm licences, stricter norms for armed security, and clear accountability for intelligence lapses are imperative. Above all, the state must reassert that no leader, legacy or vote bank is above the rule of law. Ballari cannot be allowed to relapse into a republic unto itself.</p>
