In Surathkal, stirring communal cauldron

There’s an unsettled quiet in Karnataka’s coastal districts, seared in recent months by communal violence and moral policing. The recent spate of violence in Dakshina Kannada district has further damaged the already fragile fabric of the region with fringe elements from both the sides – Hindus and Muslims – flexing their muscles at the slightest provocation. The mysterious death of a fisherman’s son, 19-year-old Paresh Mesta, on December 8, and the manner in which his body was found, drowned in a lake in Honnavar, the attempts to give it a communal colour by one BJP MP after another, including Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde and Shobha Karandlaje, amid persistent reports of the Congress looking the other way, and now the killing of Deepak Rao, four days ago, seem to add up to a disturbing pattern of killings in this pollbound state,  GURURAJ A. PANIYADI reports on the 27-year-old, who was a family man and not a Hindutva activist 

Muslim employer, Beary speaker, who killed Deepak?
He spoke the Beary language, had Muslim friends and worked in a mobile SIM shop owned by a Muslim for seven long years. Deepak Rao, who was brutally murdered in Mudaikodi-Katipalla  Wednesday afternoon, was a kind hearted man,  whose focus was his family, a mother and a deaf and dumb brother. 

Having lost his father at a young age, Deepak  took on the responsibility of running the family after completing his PUC and got a job in the mobile shop of one Abdul Majeed of Katipalla. He would distribute SIM cards and collect the money for him, leaving home for work at around 9.30 am and returning in the afternoon to tell his mother to call him if she needed  him for anything. On the day he was killed, he had reportedly asked his mother to call him if she wanted help in operating the washing machine. Despite living in communally sensitive Surathkal , he had worked for seven long years for Mr Majeed and was more like his friend than employee.

“He  spoke to us in our own (Beary) language and treated us like family.  He was a cool person with a good heart and honest. His work too was very good. I had no reason to complain in the  seven years he worked for me. I have not lost an employee, but a good friend,” says Mr Majeed. 

What disturbs him is the fact that Deepak was murdered when he was returning from his house. Although Mr Majeed rushed out of his home on hearing Deepak cry out, the assailants had already fled after stabbing him to death. Although it is now being claimed that Deepak worked for  Hindu outfits, locals say  he was never a hardcore Hindu activist and would only attend their  religious programmes like many others in the area. “He did participate in the activities of  Hindu groups like most others living here. But he was not involved in any communal activity. We have never seen him active in any of the banner or bunting controversies. He was quiet," say police sources, putting to rest  rumours that he  was murdered over a quarrel over displaying a banner in the locality. “There were two such incidents at the time, but Deepak was not  involved in either of them,”  say the police. Also, while he may have had saffron leanings,  he was not communal as he had both Hindu and Muslim friends, going by those who knew him. What most were impressed with, was his devotion to his family, especially as he had taken a loan to build his own house in Ganeshapura a few years ago.  The land was given to the family by a relative and Deepak,who was  repaying the loan, had just about Rs 2 lakh to settle when he was killed. He was also keen on releasing his mother's gold jewellery, which had been pawned, say those in the know. 

So selfless was he that  he would tell his mother he would marry only after repaying  the loan he had taken for the house and asked her to get his younger brother married first. A responsible person, he would return home from work by around 7.30 pm in the evening and spend  time with his mother and his brother.

He was a devoted family man and unlike many youth who neglect their families,  Deepak's love for his mother and brother is remembered by everyone who knew  the family," says a local acquaintance of the young man, whose death has triggered fresh controversy in the state.

IT BEGAN WITH THE ISI in Bhatkal in ’93
In April 1993, backed by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Bhatkal, the then communally peaceful coastal town 164 km away from Mangaluru was bloodied by a nine-month-long communal violence because of a power struggle between the leaders of the two communities, who were determined to prove that Bhatkal was controlled by their own people. It took the police several years to gain some control over Bhatkal and send out the radicalized elements. The fire spread to the coastline bordering the pristine blue waters of the Arabian Sea and continues to rage.
The moral policing of January 2009 and the  pub attack in Mangaluru by a group of men, who claimed to belong to the Sri Rama Sene, led to a unique non-violent-all- India protest – ‘Pink Chaddhi’ - by a consortium of “loose, forward and pub going women”, who sent pink undergarments to the Sene chief and Hindutva hardliner Pramod Muthalik during Valentine’s Day that year. The 320-km long coastline of Karnataka, which once prided itself as the centre of Sufi Islam has been a simmering communal cauldron since then.

Where even a row over banners, buntings can spiral out of control
A coastal town famous for its National Institute of Technology (NIT), Surathkal  is again in the news for communal reasons. Situated about 20 kms north of Mangaluru, the town has  always been seen as communally sensitive.
While the communal riots of  the nineties decreased in later years,  most here agree that there is always an undercurrent of communal tension in Surathkal.  
Although  communal violence in the town had kept the administration on its toes in the nineties,  in later years  Surathkal became more famous for its factories and industries like MRPL, MSEZ, and educational instututions like NITK. Hindus employed in Muslim shops and Muslims working with Hindus is just as common here as anywhere else. But the town has not lost its communal tag over the years and the recent murder of alleged Hindu activist, Deepak Rao, has only emphasised it.
Police sources agree that even a trivial matter like displaying a banner or bunting can get a communal colour in Surathkal even today. About a month ago there were two incidents of two communities wanting to put up a banner at the same spot, which created tension.
“One incident took place about a month ago. About 700 people had gathered on both sides and there was communal tension. However, with the intervention of the police, both  communities were pacified," recalls a police officer, adding, "It all depends on the police officer. If the communal elements are scared of the local police,  they do nothing, but get emboldened if it is weak.” 
With both  communities being equally strong numerically speaking, communal organisations on both  sides take every opportunity to flex their muscles. And politically , the Congress, BJP and SDPI are almost equally strong in the region.
“It is true that the number of communal incidents in Surathkal had decreased in recent years due to various reasons. But many remain  communal in their attitude. Although they are not as serious as in Ullal or Bantwal, they indulge in small incidents that are enough to create tension. And now with the state assembly elections just a few months away both the groups want to get as much political mileage as possible from communal incidents and so are encashing on them," say official sources, adding, "We cannot rule out the possibility of further tension in the region. The police is taking all measures to control the situation.”