Bengaluru riots: Punish only the guilty, says HD Deve Gowda

Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda urged the state government Thursday to “punish only those who were involved in rioting and arson” that took place Tuesday night in northeast Bengaluru.

“I am confident that only the guilty will be punished. The police have named some 150 accused. Definitely not everyone was involved," Gowda told a news conference.

Commenting on the arrests made in the incident, he said that generally many people are held following a riot to examine them.

Such an unfortunate incident, where one MLAs house was torched and robbed is unprecedented, and should not have happened in the city, he said.

On Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy seeking a CBI probe, Gowda said that the decision was left to the state government. “The government should ensure that the MLA gets justice and relief,” he said.

Read: Bengaluru mob violence: Police FIR says DJ Halli, KG Halli riots were the acts of SDPI members

The JD(S) supremo decried the politicisation of the incident. “In the BJP, 8-10 ministers have reacted regarding the incident. The chief minister has already spoken and these ministers have diverse views. When a government is there, the final word should be of the chief minister’s or the home minister’s," he said. A similar situation is in the Congress where everyone was floating their own views, he rued.

Protest

Gowda said the JD(S) would launch a statewide stir against the ordinances issued by the state government on the agricultural markets, land reforms and labour laws.

The protest will be launched in Hassan on August 14 and will be held around the state by adhering to social distancing norms, he said, adding that he would visit a few flood-affected areas in the coming days to raise the issue in the upcoming Parliament session. Gowda was elected to the Rajya Sabha recently.