Mangalore's moral police: Why Hindutva groups might cost BJP the polls

“In October 2011, I was at a birthday party at a beach house at Katapadi near Mangalore, with some 15 boys and girls. Suddenly close to midnight, a group of 30-40 men arrived in a couple of tempos and started stoning the house. They damaged the two cars that were parked outside and broke the window panes of the house. We were terrified inside. We called the police and when we were escorted out in a state of shock, we saw them with the implement with which you break open coconuts. The intention was clearly to harm. We did not lodge an official police complaint so the matter died there.’’ The 22-year-old spoke to me on condition that her identity won’t be revealed. Her close brush with what could have hit national headlines is not part of the Mangalore Police files. But it tells you of the dominant emotion many youth confess they feel in Mangalore : Fear. [caption id=“attachment_704946” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A group of Bajrang Dal activists. Representative image. AFP.[/caption] On Friday evening last week, I was at a lounge in Mangalore that had opened just a couple of months ago. A swanky place like this in any other city would have been teeming with party animals. But not this one. The proprietor blamed it on the scared Mangaloreans. After all, no one in this city has quite forgotten what happened at ‘Amensia The Lounge’ in January 2009 or at a birthday party at someone’s home  in July last year, when activists of Hindutva groups turned into a moral police brigade, assaulting those inside. The fact that the police force is seen to be soft on the right-wing elements in a BJP-ruled state means those running such establishments prefer to err on the side of caution. The owner of this lounge confessed he had allowed the members of the Hindutva group to come in and take a look at what was happening inside, almost as if an ’no-objection’ certificate was needed by these men without uniform. And he was told to ensure no one got ‘high’ or ’excited’ enough to shake a leg to the music. So five bouncers have been employed by the proprietor just to ensure no one dances. Though Mangalore is out of step, it is simmering with anger deep within. The Dakshina Kannada district has been a Hindutva stronghold for several years, even described as a Hindutva laboratory. But the last five years that the BJP has been in power, saw the right-wing groups gain total control and the results of their experiments with vigilante justice have not amused Mangaloreans one bit. Coastal Karnataka hit back in March this year when the BJP was routed in the elections to the urban local bodies or civic bodies. Even a city like Udupi, that was held by the BJP for more than four decades, rejected the party. Congress won way more seats than the party in their strongholds. If those polls were the trailer before the main movie, the BJP could be in for some real bad news on the western coast on 8 May, the day election results will be declared. While the rest of Karnataka talks of corruption and governance deficit as the main issues this election, in Dakshina Kannada and adjoining districts, moral policing and communal hatred are what agitate the voters. Parents want an end to the atmosphere of terror where a boy and a girl having an icecream in a parlour could be attacked. Worse if they belong to different communities. Safety on the street is what the average citizen of this region wants. The right-wing groups claim that the BJP needs to thank them for coming to power in 2008. But mention that they may also lose in 2013 because of them, and an elaborate defence of their beliefs and the methods they adopt is put out. “What is the meaning of so many boys and girls staying together in one house (referring to the home stay incident)? Our tradition is to wear full clothes, not like how they go to parties,’’ says Satyajit Suratkal, South Karnataka convenor of the Hindu Jagrana Vedike. His counterpart in the Bajrang Dal is Sharan Pumpwell whose area of specialisation is ensuring Hindu-Muslim alliances don’t happen because he thinks Muslim boys only want to lure Hindu girls and take advantage of them. And they do whatever it takes to pursue this divisive agenda. Ensuring that cows are not transported to slaughter houses is another activity Bajrang Dal members indulge in. Mangalore, with its 22 per cent Muslim and 16 per cent Christian population, has always been a communally surcharged city. The Dakshina Kannada region is dotted with places of worship of all three religions and with 94 per cent literacy, it is a very politically aware region. The attack on churches in September 2008, soon after the BJP came to power and assaults on Muslim boys have only increased the communal divide. Organisations like the Popular Front of India too have stepped into the space, encouraging Muslim men and women to assert their religious identity. The elections on 5 May will determine what path the region wants to pursue - a path of constant communal tension and fear of moral policing that has hurt its 50000 crore rupees worth education economy or a life where everyone can co-exist in spite of their differences.