What does it take to stoke a riot in Bangalore? Not a lot, for if you are willing to spend then Pramod Muthalik’s Sri Ram Sene will do the job.
This was the essence of the six-weeks long joint investigation by the news channel, Headlines Today, and Tehelka magazine, which was aired on Thursday.
Muthalik — whose claim to notoriety is the Mangalore pub attack of 2009 — has been caught on a hidden camera saying that a communal riot can be ‘organised’ in Bangalore or Mangalore.
“Mangalore main kar sakte hain...Bangalore.”
The sting’s script was simple: A reporter posed as an artist hungry for fame and wanted a communal riot sparked off by his exhibition so that he could be ‘famous like M F Hussain’; Muthalik said it could be organised and directed the artist to meet his deputies.
What followed was a series of meetings, primarily, with Prasad Attavur, national vice president, Sri Ram Sene and Vasantkumar Bhavani, Bangalore head of the Sene.
Three out of four conversations with Attavur were held inside a jail. Muthalik is also shown accepting a donation of Rs 10,000 from a painter for “the cause of Hindutva”.
Here’s a conversation between Prasad and the undercover reporter.
Prasad: Main aapko batata hun kitna paisa chahiye (I’ll tell you how much money is needed.)
Reporter: Ladka kitna hoga (How many boys will be there)?
Prasad: Pachas (50).
Reporter: 50 ladka hoga jo tod fod danga type karega (Fifty guys who will ransack the place, destroy property?
Prasad: Haan, bilkul... wo ye sub kiya na pub ka...Same aisa hi (Same as the pub case) The deal to organise a riot was finally sealed at Rs 60 lakh.
Bhavani, described in a Headline Today media release as the man who discussed the nuts and bolts of the operation, suggested that the state’s Wakf Minister Mumtaz Ali Khan be made the chief guest at the exhibition for greater impact.
The sting also shows the Sene’s preparedness and calculated approach to protests and violence.
When the ‘artist’ offered not to file cases against the Sene, Bhavani turned down the suggestion.
If cases weren’t filed against the attackers, people would suspect that the attacks were engineered, he said.
Senior Sri Ram Sene leader Vilas G Pawar told Express that the sting was a “conspiracy to malign the Sene” and that it will file a defamation case against the news channel.