Peace meeting held in Nagamangala; immersion of Ganesha idols to resume on Sunday

Nagamangala in Mandya district recovering from communal violence, with Ganesha idol immersion to resume after peace meeting.

Nagamangala in the politically-active Mandya district, which witnessed a communal flareup during a Ganesha idol immersion procession on Tuesday, is slowly limping back to normality even as the district administration has decided to resume immersion of Ganesha idols from Sunday after a peace meeting was held between the two communities on Saturday.

While a majority of business establishments continued to remain closed amid prohibitory orders imposed since the riots took place, some shops had opened on Saturday. The famous Saumyakeshava temple had a steady stream of visitors too.

Several men, who have fled the town fearing arrest, are yet to return. Some families have taken shelter elsewhere following the violence, and Mandya district in-charge Minister and Nagamangala legislator N. Cheluvarayaswamy on Saturday appealed to them to return without fear. The Minister also said that if the need arises, the investigation would be handed over to another agency to ascertain if it was a pre-planned attack and to find out the reasons behind it.

Though the district administration has decided to resume the immersion of idols on Sunday, there will be a break on Monday in view of Id Milad and it will resume from Tuesday again. Prohibitory orders will remain in place till Monday.

So far, 55 arrests have been made in connection with the loss of properties during the communal riots. As per police records, 19 business establishments and 21 vehicles were set ablaze during the clashes. The police have filed a total of 23 FIRs in this connection. Though the total loss is estimated to be around ₹3 crore, government authorities are yet to complete their assessment.

Rizwan Saleem, who counted his losses to be around ₹20 lakh as his tyre shop and auto spare parts shop was gutted in fire, said he does not know where he should restart. He sought compensation for his loss from the government. Sadat Ali, a bangle shop owner put his losses to be about ₹1 lakh, and said he did not know the reasons for miscreants to attack his shop. “I have more Hindu friends than from my own community. I have to seek a loan to restart my business now. This incident has unsettled the community members.”

A couple of police officers said the violence erupted after the procession took a small deviation, and that violence was “spontaneous” and did not look like a pre-planned one. Senior police officials also refuted reports that petrol bombs had been used on Tuesday night and that people had brandished talwars (swords). “We have checked footage of more than 50 CCTV cameras. But none has shown anyone carrying or throwing petrol bombs or carrying swords,” Superintendent of Police of Mandya district Mallikarjun Baldandi told The Hindu.