Union, State ministers condemn attack on Muslim vendor by Sriram Sene activists

Dharwad: Several top functionaries of the BJP have disapproved of the Hindu fringe group's attack on a fruit vendor in Nuggikeri village in Dharwad district on Saturday. The fringe group activists had smashed over 100 watermelons in a stall owned by a Muslim vendor and chased him away from the temple fair on Saturday.

Union Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi who is also seen in the close circles of the Prime Minister was the first to condemn the attack.

"It is a bad state of mind to depict all Muslims in a bad light, this is a society where people from all communities live together in harmony, nobody has the right to disrupt that harmony, I am aghast over the Nuggikkeri incident and advise all those who harbour sentiments inimical towards another community to eschew such feelings," he said in Hubballi on Sunday.

State Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs JC Maadhuswamy also criticised the perpetrators of this attack and said from Dharwad, "Nobody can disrupt the social order, if they (Hindu fringe groups) are trying to ban Muslim traders from putting up vending stalls in temple festivals, they are attacking the social order and we still do not know why they are banning Muslim traders. If they are taking law and order into their hands, the government will take action against them."

BK Hariprasad, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who was on a tour of Belagavi, said the Nuggikeri incident held mirror to the deteriorating affairs at the national level.

"The central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed on many fronts at the national level. The attacks on Muslim traders and many other forms of ban on non-Hindus in the State are just a facade to cover the failures of the BJP government. RSS and other Hindu fringe groups are directly responsible for breakdown of the social fibre."

Opposition leader in the State Assembly S Siddaramaiah asked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra to use the executive power to restore peace in the State. "But they will not do it, as they have become puppets in the hands of Hindu fringe groups and the powers have become useless," he mocked.

JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy also condemned the incident and sent Rs 10,000 to the Muslim vendor who was targeted by Srirama Sene activists.