Karnataka Government wants naxalites for their own package, alleges Vitala Malekudiya

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, 22 May 2015: Both Karnataka Government and its Anti Naxal Police Force desperately trying to establish presence of naxalities by filing false cases against innocents just to grab the naxal package, alleges the first post-graduate from the Malekudiya community Vitala Malekudiya, who is contesting Grama Panchayath election.

 

He was speaking with media persons in meet the press program organised by Bengaluru Journalists’ Study Centre here in Bengaluru Press Club on Thursday 21 May 2015.

Replying a question Vitala said that there was no movement of members of Communist Party of Maoist aka Peoples War Group in Kuthlur village of Belthangady taluk as well as Dakshina Kannada district for the last four to five years. But, ANF wants the tag of naxal affected area for theirown advantage, he said.

Karnataka state President of the DYFI Muneer Katipalla, who accompanied Vitala said that Vittal was targeted because he was the most educated person in his village. And, another factor is that Karnataka police don’t know the difference between communists who oppose armed struggle such as the CPI(M) and banned communists who advocate armed struggle like the Maoists.

Katipalla says that according to the chargesheet approved by the Congress government in February, some of the things that supposedly prove that Vittal is a Naxal include cuttings of Janashakti weekly, a CPI(M) mouth piece and the Kannada daily Prajavani.

“Janashakti is the mouthpiece of the party in Karnataka. Far from garnering support for the Maoist movement, Janashakti actively opposes armed struggle,” he says.
Secondly, Katipalla said that the police seemed to be grasping at straws in trying to prove that Vittal is a Maoist. They apparently found a Bhagat Singh book that Katipalla gave Vittal wrapped in three blankets kept in a plastic bag. The book, written by Jawaharlal Nehru’s media adviser Kuldeep Nayar, was translated into Kannada by journalist G S Basavaraju.

“If possessing that is an indication of being Maoist, then I too should have been accused,” Katipalla said. He said that he had approached the police more than once offering to give a statement.

“Vittal was targeted because the state doesn’t want young people like Vittal to develop a political understanding, otherwise people like the Malekudiyas cannot be exploited. Vittal was at the forefront of the struggle. They don’t want Vittal himself to be in the mainstream, why would they want to bring Naxals into the mainstream? Why are they pushing mainstream people like Vittal to the forests?” he asked.

He said that even though the case had been filed during the BJP rule, the Congress government had proceeded with the case and permitted the chargesheet to be filed.

“This only goes to show that irrespective of the party in power, it is the powerful people (both economically and socially) who see to it that the system functions this way,” Katipalla said.
Vittal and his father Lingappa are the sixth and seventh accused in the chargesheet, along with known Maoists such as Vikram Gowda, Prabha and Sundari. All have been charged under Sections 120 (b), 121 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 19 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967.