The Chamarajpet area in central Bengaluru that is usually bustling with activity, witnessed a bandh and protest on Tuesday, July 12, leading to most shops downing their shutters. The Chamarajapet Nagareekara Okkoota Vedike had called for a bandh on July 12, demanding that the celebration of Hindu festivals be allowed at the Eidgah maidan.
The Vedike is a body that came into existence only on July 3, with the demand that the maidan used to offer Eid prayers twice a year, should be accessible for Hindu festivities too. However, when TNM spoke to the protestors, no one admitted any clear affiliation to any organisations. All they claimed was that the ground belonged to them. “This is our land but we have not been allowed to use it,” shouted one of the protesters. Others around him shouted slogans saying, “Chamarajpete ground is ours. We will fight for it.”
The protest initially saw roughly 15 members of the Sri Rama Sene chanting slogans such as “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Sri Ram”. The ground saw a few more protestors trickle in several minutes later and observe a sit-in. After a few rounds of sloganeering, the Bengaluru police attempted to disperse the protesters. When the protestors resisted, all of them were forcibly carried in buses to an undisclosed location.
The Eidgah maidan is a ground used twice yearly for congregations of Muslims to offer Eid prayers. No other religious activity has been allowed to be conducted on the grounds. However, the ground has been the recent hotbed for communal tension in Bengaluru, since it has been caught in an ownership tussle for the last three weeks between the BBMP, Karnataka Wakf Board with the Central Muslim Association and the Bengaluru Police.
The Board contests that the land was given to them by the royal family of Mysuru, the Wodeyars and is now owned and managed by Central Muslim Association, as a registered wakf property. At the same time, BBMP officials say that the land belonged to their West division except on the days on which Muslims observe Eid. Simultaneously, the decision of allowing congregations on the land lies with the Bengaluru Police.