46 Detained After Communal Tensions In Karnataka's Mandya Amid Ganpati Procession, Section 144 To Continue

Tension gripped Nagamangala town in Karnataka’s Mandya and prohibitory orders were issued after stones and shoes were hurled at a Ganpati procession on Wednesday.

According to sources, the incident happened while the Ganpati procession was proceeding for idol immersion, thus sparking communal tensions in the town.

Later, members of the Ganpati procession protested outside a local police station, seeking action against the miscreants.

Police officials had to resort to lathi-charge after the crowd attempted to torch a few pushcarts, two-wheelers, and a cloth shop.

The Ganesh idol was immersed under the surveillance of police personnel after the situation was brought under control. Later, the administration imposed Section 144 (disallowing assembly of four or more people) in the town to prevent untoward incidents.

Meanwhile, additional forces were dispatched from Mysuru to step up security in the area.

Police said the area was cleaned up on Thursday morning, adding six shops were damaged in arson and 13 shops were damaged due to stone pelting and vandalism.

As the town slowly returned to normalcy on Thursday, police said they picked up 46 people for questioning, adding that prohibitory orders will remain in place until further notice.

The Ganpati festival, which began on September 7, spans 10 days of joyous celebrations, elaborate rituals, and other festivities and concludes with the grand visarjan, where Ganesha idols are immersed in water bodies amidst chants and music.

BJP Blames Congress

Karnataka BJP wrote, “Hello Chief Minister @siddaramaiah, is Mandya district ever in Pak, Bangla, Afghanistan? Wasn’t this atrocity @INCKarnataka in Badarikoppal of Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district at the time of Ganesha dissolution the result of vote bank politics in the state? In order not to go to the procession of Ganesha in front of the mosque, miscreants pelted stones and created a riot. Is it the incompetent minister  @DrParameshwara who has taken the home department to such a predicament despite stone pelting on the police?”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the developments and blamed Congress for the communal tensions in Karnataka’s Mandya.

BJP leader R Ashoka took to X and wrote, “The bigoted forces in the Congress government are once again in full swing, and in Karnataka, which was a garden of peace for all races, the misadventure of the Jihadi thorns is disturbing the peace.”

He added, ” Congress party and state government’s vote bank politics, favoritism, appeasement is the direct reason for the recurrence of such incidents. If the tails of such fanatical thugs are left uncut, there is no doubt that such people will become extremists tomorrow. I urge the Chief Minister”.