A day after the police arrested four persons in connection with the vandalising of stalls owned by Muslim vendors, Hubballi-Dharwad (West) MLA Arvind Bellad has courted controversy by terming the vandalism on the Nuggikeri Hanuman temple premises as a “retaliatory action by Hindutva outfits to certain actions by Muslims”.
Speaking to presspersons in Dharwad on Monday, Mr. Bellad said that although he did not justify the vandalism, it was being seen that Muslims did not respect the Karnataka High Court’s order on hijab and a bandh call was given protesting against it.
Consequently, non Muslims had begun feeling that Muslims were not respecting the court orders. In retaliation Hindus were reacting in different ways and the Nuggikeri incident was one such example, he said, adding that Muslim leaders should see to it that no actions by Muslims violated the law of the land and then the other communities would also see to it that there would be no reaction.
