Karnataka’s bizarre ‘sedition spree’: Man shouts ‘Pakistan zindabad’ at taluk office

Udupi: The Karnataka police have arrested a man and booked a sedition case against him for shouting 'Pakistan zindabad' at a government office this morning.

Raghavendra Ganiga (43), a resident of Kodi village in Kundapur taluk, mingled with applicants and petitioners at the Kundapur mini Vidhana Saudha (taluk office) and suddenly at about 10 am started shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' and 'Jihad Zindabad.'

Most of the people around him were startled, but some took up positions to videograph the curious incident.

The tahsildar was told about it and he called the police.  Raghavendra Ganiga continued to shout his slogans even while being driven away by the police.
The video of Raghavendra shouting pro-Pakistan slogans and police taking him away has gone viral on social media.

This incident is the latest in a sequence of several in which dissenting slogans and acts have taken place for no apparent reason in Karnataka.

It started with the Shaheen School in Bidar staging a play that allegedly insulted prime minister Narendra Modi. Then three Kashmir students made a video in which they sang along to a song with the refrain ‘Pakistan zindabad’ at an engineering college in Hubballi.

Even more bizarrely, a young woman named Amulya Leona suddenly took up ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans in the midst of a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Bengaluru. The very next day a young woman named Arudra held up a pro-azaadi placard at a rally at the Town Hall in Bengaluru.

In each of those cases, the police have slapped sedition cases.

Those close to Raghavendra Ganiga said he is neither an activist nor a person affiliated to any militant organization. He is allegedly mentally ill, separated from his wife and child and living with his parents.

Raghavendra's father Shama Ganiga told reporters, “He has been under treatment from doctors in Kundapur and Mangaluru for eight years. Today I had brought him here for treatment for an eye ailment. He said he would go to the toilet and left without telling me. After sometime this has happened."
Raghavendra Ganiga is said to be a well-educated person who also worked as a teacher for some time. However, he could not continue in the profession due to his mental ailment.