Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A tired-looking former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharati arrived in Hubli five hours late, performed a quick pooja and surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Mohammad Ismail while her party began making plans for nationwide protests and agitations.
She was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in the Hindalga jail in Belgaum. Bharati is being kept at the Agriculture University’s guest house in Dharwad for the night and will be shifted to the jail on Thursday morning.
Bharati refused to apply for bail in a case of violating prohibitory orders in 1994 at the controversial Idgah Maidan in the heart of Hubli.
Bharati told the waiting media that she would ‘‘honour the verdict and go to jail happily without any regrets.’’ ‘‘I am glad to go to jail. People were punished for hoisting of the national flag during the British rule. It is really unfortunate that even after the 58 years of Independence, someone is punished for hoisting the national flag,’’ she said.
The BJP leader said she would stay in prison till the Karnataka governemnt withdraws the cases against her. She accused the top leadership of the Congress, its president Sonia Gandhi in particular, of having instigated the Karnataka government. She also vowed to fight for justice and said she would launch her ‘tiranga yatra’ immediately after coming out of the jail. Surrendering along with her were three other accused in the 1994 rioting cases—state BJP treasurer Rajendra Gokhale, Vivekanand Shenoy of Karkal and Raju Moorshilli of Hubli.
Bharati’s surrender was not without the usual dose of controversy and confusion, partly created by the police. At around 7 am, she was woken up by Dharwad SP D Roopa who boarded the train at Alanavar, a tiny village in Dharwad district. The SP told Bharati that she was being arrested and taken by road. Bharati refused to get down from the train and an argument followed. The train was stopped for over 20 minutes. A senior police officer then asked the SP not to arrest the BJP leader and the train chugged along to Hubli.
Bharati was given a rousing reception at the Hubli station by a large number of her party workers. Among the BJP leaders present were former Civil Aviation Minister Shah Nawaz Hussain and the party’s state president Ananth Kumar. The 45-year-old leader will be lodg ed in the jail in Belgaum, less than 100 km from Hubli. The plans to lodge her in the subjail here were changed in view of her status as a “Z” security protectee. The Rapid Action Force, Karnataka State Reserve Police Force and state police drawn from neighbouring districts kept vigil in Hubli which saw violence in 1994 when Bharati came to hoist tricolour in the disputed maidan. Charging the Congress with practising ‘‘politics of vengeance and confrontation’’ against its opponents, the BJP in New Delhi today announced a nationwide campaign from tomorrow to protest against Bharati’s imprisonment. ‘‘The imprisonment of Bharati in a patently false and politically motivated case marks a new stage in the Congress party’s politics of vengeance and confrontation against its opponents, especially the BJP. Our party will meet this challenge with a fitting response,’’ party president M Venkaiah Naidu said. He said party workers will hold protest demonstrations all over the country from August 26 to Sepetember 1 demanding that the Karnataka government immediately withdraw the case against Bharati and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh secure the resignation of all tainted ministers.
The BJP also called for a general strike in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka tomorrow in support of Bharati.
