Udupi: Padayatra against Made Snana, Pankti Bedha turns violent; protestors caned, several injured

Udupi: Padayatra against Made Snana, Pankti Bedha turns violent; protestors caned, several injured

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Dec 27, 2012: The padayatra organized by the CPI (M) demanding  a ban on  Made Snana in Kukke Subrahamanya Temple and Pankthi Bedha in Udupi Krishna Mutt, turned violent on December 27, Thursday when clashes broke out between the protestors and policemen near the Sanskrit College in the town. The incident is learnt to have taken place when cops had put up barricades and prevented the protestors from entering Carstreet and marching towards the Sri Krishna Mutt.

Several protestors as well as policemen were injured in the clashes. Many  protestors including senior CPI (M) leaders G M Nagaraj, Nityananda Swamy, K N Sriyan, Prasanna Kumar, Varalaxmi, Basavaraj, Maruthi, Shivaram and others were detained and later released.
 
The Mangalore to Udupi Padayatra was flagged off in front of DC office in Mangalore on December 24 by Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji of Nidumamidi Mutt.

Earlier, in the day, the protest had begun on a peaceful note in Udupi, but only turned violent near the Sanskrit College when there was heated exchange of words between the protestors and the cops resulting in lathi charging.

At a protest meet held earlier in Udupi, CPI (M) Working President Srirama Reddy while stressing the need to ban such practices, alleged that the government was more concerned about temples rather than the interests of the people.

CPI(M) Secretary B Madhava and other leaders spoke.

Meanwhile, commenting on the protest taking a violent turn, Tahsildar Jagannath Rao claimed that the policemen were not to be blamed and that they had only tried to prevent the agitators from marching ahead. The incident took place because the protestors were “arrogant and aggressive,” he added.