The one point that the now well known "HUBLI NATIONAL FLAG" episode drives home is this.
Patriotism does not allow stipulating pre-conditions. On the contrary, unconditional surrender of individual interest to the national interest is the highlight of patriotism.
VIGIL invited Shri D.H.Shankara Murthy, a BJP MLC from Karnataka, who was in the thick of the struggle throughout, to share his views in a public programme organized by the forum at Madras on 30.08.1994. He, in his exposition, recreates the events bringing out the resoluteness of our compatriots of Hubli in the following pages.
The Hubli message is sure to erase every iota of cynicism all around. We in the VIGIL hope that this booklet would prove to be an effective tool to that end.
Shri D.H.Shankara Murthy
HUBLI is in the news, after the events of 15th August 1994. Divergent views are expressed about what exactly happened there on that day. Some people say that the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to exploit the happenings on that day for political gains and rouse the passions of the people. Some others say that the party is trying to divide the society and make an issue out of a non-issue by taking the law into its own hands.
They tend to ask why six precious lives had to be lost in that place for hoisting the national flag. What is the purpose of hoisting the national flag at the particular maidan in Hubli? Why did the BJP do it? Did the BJP do it to gain power?
Without knowing the history or the background of the whole issue, one should not jump to conclusions.
Hubli is the second largest city in Karnataka. It is now a Municipal Corporation - the Hubli-Dharwar Corporation. The maidan where the event took place is little more than an acre in area and is situated in a prime locality where six or seven major roads converge and where there is always hectic activity.
The Kittoor Rani Chennamma maidan, now called by some people as the Idgah maidan has its own history. I would like to draw your attention to its historical background first, then to the legal background and thirdly to the history of that land.
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Long back this land belonged to the Basil Mission of Switzerland . At that time, Hubli was part of the then Bombay Presidency and was administered by the Governor of Bombay. The city was growing and the Municipality wanted to have some land for its people to hold 'jatras' and other public activities. So the Hubli Municipality acquired this land from the Basil Mission. It became a public place. Vegetables are sold there in the evenings and from time to time the people of Hubli held jatras and the political parties also held public meetings there. As late as the 8th of August 1994, the police held an exhibition on that land when stolen properties recovered by them were exhibited. Whenever a political party holds a meeting at the maidan it hoists its party flag and there have been no objections to that. That land has always been used for such purposes. At times some stray cattle and pigs also sleep there.
THE LEGAL BACKGROUND
There is an association by name Anjuman-E-lslam which claims lease hold right on the land. It says that the then Municipality of Hubli had leased out the land to it for 999 years at the rate of one rupee per year by way of lease rent. In 1971 this Society obtained a license from the Hubli Corporation for building a shopping complex on that piece of land.
Some of the citizens of Hubli formed themselves into a committee and filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Munsiff court at Hubli under suit No.359/1972 against this move on the plea that the municipality had acquired this land for a particular purpose, namely to enable the public to use the land for jatras and other activities and hence that land could not be given away to any person or organisation. It was also pleaded that the agreement between the then Municipality and the Anjuman-E-lslam was illegal, and therefore, it should be quashed.
The committee further pleaded that the Anjuman-E-lslam should not be allowed to construct any building on that land.
In the said suit, Anjuman-E-lslam of Hubli contended that the maidan had been given to them on lease for 999 years at the rate of Re.1/- per annum on 14.5.1930 and that they had become the owners of that maidan by virtue of the land being listed as Wakf property.
After recording the evidence and hearing both the, parties, it was decreed by the Munsiff Court on 7.12.1973 that the said maidan was not Wakf property and that the Anjuman-E-lslam was not in possession of the said maidan by way of lease. The Court also decreed that the resolution of 1921 permitting the use of the site by the Anjuman society for purposes of prayer be allowed but directed that the site be opened for public use. Thus the verdict of the Court is very clear. It held that the order passed by the then Government of Mysore was illegal, ultravires, void and ineffectual.
Against the judgement and decree of the Munsiff Court, the Anjuman-E- lslam preferred a regular appeal No.40/1974 in the court of the Additional Civil Judge, Hubli. The learned Civil Judge confirmed the judgement and decree of the Munsiff Court on 12.10.1982 on similar lines.
Thereafter the Anjuman-E-lslam as well as the Wakf Board preferred a Regular Second Appeal before the High Court of Karnataka under Appeal Nos.754/1982 and 1/1983 and challenged both the judgement and decree passed by the Munsiff Court and the Appellate Court by urging mainly the following contentions:
1. The citizens of Hubli have no right to move the court below in a representative capacity.
2. The suit tiled is time barred.
3. The property in question has become the property of Wakf Board.
The High Court of Karnataka, Bangalore on 18.6.92 dismissed both the appeals filed by Anjuman-E-lslam and Wakf Board by holding that:
i) The plaintiffs have the locus standi to institute the case.
ii) The suit filed by the citizens of Hubli is not time barred and that the findings arrived at by the Courts below are based on sound principles of law.
iii) The property does not belong to Wakf or Anjuman-E-lslam.
Three salient points become clear from the judgement of High Court of Karnataka.
The land belongs to the Corporation of Hubli-Dharwar. So it shall continue to be public property. Even though the Corporation has a right over it, it cannot dispose of it as it likes. Suppose the Corporation, by a majority resolution, were to decide to give away the land to a person or sell it or construct any building on that land, it would be held invalid, as it has to follow the procedure of public notice and to invite the highest bid. The status quo on the maidan has to be maintained that the maidan is for public use only. But the ownership of the maidan lies with the Corporation.
Secondly, the Muslims of Hubli have a right to offer prayers twice a year on that land.
Thirdly, the structure which has already come up as the shopping complex has to be removed.
While the Additional Civil Judge of Hubli had given 45 days for the demolition of the structure on the maidan, the Karnataka High Court decreed that it had to be removed within 15 days.
It also declared that if the Anjuman-E-lslam society refused to demolish the structure within the said time , the petitioner would have the right to demolish it with the help of the police and the cost of the demolition would be collected from the defendant.
SUPREME COURT TOO...
The Anjuman society then went in appeal to the Supreme Court against the order of the Karnataka High Court.
The Supreme Court at first refused permission for an appeal stating that there was no ground for it . On the insistence of the Anjuman society appealing for accepting its Special Leave Petition (SLP) fearing the demolition of the structure built by it, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on one of the operative points of the Karnataka High Court, namely, the demolition of the structure, till it disposed of the SLP. But it did not touch the other two operative parts of the High court judgement, namely, the ownership of the maidan and the Muslims' right to offer prayers there.
This meant that the land belonged to the Corporation and was a public property and that the Muslims could offer prayers there twice a year. Whatever structure the Anjuman society had built, could not be demolished till the Supreme Court disposed of the SLP.
The courts have clearly decreed that there is no dispute. If anyone says there is a dispute, he is committing a contempt of court. The legal position that the land belongs to the people and is a public place is very clear. This is the legal background of the place.
WHY HOIST THE NATIONAL FLAG ?
In 1990 certain anti-national elements in Jammu and Kashmir State rendered several lakhs of Indians homeless and made them become refugees in their own Motherland. These hapless brethren of ours continue to be refugees and have languished for the past 4 years in the forests near Jammu without proper shelter and protection. This situation has been created by anti-national elements with the intention of severing Kashmir from India . Unfortunately, even to this day no serious attempt has been made by the powers that be to ameliorate the sufferings of these Indians or to effectively curb the anti-nationals in that State. These anti-nationals hoisted the national flag of Pakistan in Lal Chowk of Srinagar, thus posing a challenge to Indians and to the unity and integrity of Bharat. These anti-nationals also dared any Indian to remove the Pakistani flag and hoist the national flag in that very place. That was in 1991.
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi, the then President of the Bharatiya Janata Party accepted the challenge of these anti-nationals, And to make the Indian people aware of the gravest situation prevailing in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he toured length and breadth of our motherland and proceeded to Srinagar to hoist the national flag and to uphold the dignity of our country. In the beginning he was prevented by the Government and later having realized that Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi could not be prevented from hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, the Government of India allowed him to hoist the national flag there on 26.1.1992.
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi had given a call earlier to all Indians to hoist the national flag at all possible places in the country on that day. In pursuance of the said call, the citizens of Hubli decided to hoist the national flag at Kittoor Rani Chennamma maidan, now called by some people as the Idgah Maidan. At that point of time, the then Congress Chief Minister of State of Karnataka Sri.S.Bangarappa issued instructions to the police to thwart the attempts of the citizens of Hubli to hoist the national flag in the maidan on the specious argument that it may hurt the feelings of minorities. Hoisting the national flag at any public place in our country is not a crime nor can one presume that it will hurt the feelings of the minorities. On 26.1.1992 when the national flag was hoisted in the maidan, the police, at the instance of the then Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri.S.Bangarappa, removed the flag, tore it to pieces and even had some unruly people dance over that.
NATIONAL HONOURS PROTECTION ACT
An act was passed in 1971 titled the National Honours Protection act. As per the provisions of this act, a public place is any place within the reach of the public. The act also stipulates that if anyone prevents the hoisting of the national flag in any public place on Independence day or Republic day, he is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to 3 years.
Until January 26,1992 there was no dispute about the National flag and the maidan in Hubli. The two were not related. A legal battle was going on in the Courts only. But after January 26, 1992 when the police brought down the national flag, the citizens of Hubli formed a committee -The Rashtra Dhwaja Rakshana Samiti- resolving to hoist the national flag there on August 15 since it was a public place. The Government once again objected to that and deployed police in good number to prevent the hoisting of the national flag. But our party cadre was present there. An old lady with her grand daughter sneaked into the maidan with a stick in hand. She draped the national flag on to her stick and fixed it on the maidan. She also began singing the national anthem. The police rushed there, dragged the old lady away, removed the flag, and tore it to pieces. The little grand daughter of the old lady was literally thrown out of the maidan. This happened on August 15,1992.
Then came January 26, 1993. Again the people of Hubli decided to hoist the national flag at the maidan and they were able to do it despite the heavy police bandobust. But some of our young people were beaten up by the police and as usual the police seized the flag and threw it away.
Again on August 15, 1993, the Government declared that it would not allow the hoisting of the national flag at the maidan at any cost. They deployed the military, the Border Security Force and the Mahratta regiment too. There was also the usual police pickets.
As a legislator I raised a question in the Karnataka Legislative Council as to how much the government had spent to prevent the people of Hubli from hoisting the national flag at the Hubli maidan. You might be surprised to know that the answer was that the Government had spent Rs.3.4 crores to prevent the people of Hubli from hoisting the national flag and to remove the flag which was hoisted by the people of that town.
Came January 26, 1994. The government became more adamant this time. It camped a huge police force and also clamped down curfew. No one was allowed to come out of their houses. Thousands of our workers were arrested and innocent people were harassed and beaten up. Many of them were jailed for two or three days so as to prevent them from hoisting the national flag. Even the 75 year old retired Director General of Police of Karnataka, Mr.Veerabadrayya, who went to hoist the flag at Hubli Maidan was arrested and incarcerated in the Beigaum jail.
Sri.L.K.Advani who had come to Karnataka on his tour came to know of these events in greater detail. He was shocked. He said that since it was a public place the hoisting of the flag cannot be stopped. He also went through all the records before giving this call to the people at a public meeting.
When Mr.Sikhandar Bakht, Leader of the Opposition, Rajyasabha, came to Hubli he heard about this and said that it was tyrannical of the government to prevent the hoisting of the national flag and that he would come himself that year to hoist the national flag.
When Ms.Uma Bharati of the BJP came to Hubli and heard about the episode, she gave a call to the people to go and hoist the flag. "If you like, I shall come myself and hoist the flag" she declared.
We, therefore started to prepare for the event systematically. You might be surprised to know that several days prior to August 15, public appeals were made to the effect that neither BJP nor the samithi is very particular as to hoisting the flag by themselves. They would be happy and extend co-operation even if the national duty is performed by any person including the office-bearers of the Anjuman society or government authorities. Subsequently a delegation went to the Governor of Karnataka Mr.Khurshid Alam Khan and submitted a memorandum to him stating that the attitude of the State Government was improper, illegal, unconstitutional and anti- national. The delegation urged him to come and hoist the flag at the maidan on behalf of the people of Hubli along with the President of the Anjuman-E-lslam. When there was no response, we requested Mr.Veerappa Moily, the Chief Minister of Karnataka to hoist the flag but in vain. We asked several other authorities. But none came forward to hoist the national flag at the Hubli maidan on August 15,1994.
The British often used to say when the Independence movement gained momentum, that India was a poor country and that many things were to be done. It was , therefore, the burden of the White man to rule the people and therefore why should you fight for Independence? Fight for your food, water, education. This was the specious argument of the British. This is the same argument that is being put forth today. Why should the BJP make the hoisting of the national flag a prestige issue? Many of our people have laid down their lives for the Vande Mataram, for Bharat. The same situation prevails at the Hubli maidan today, 50 years after Independence. So naturally we were trying to persuade the government, the Chief Minister, and others on this matter. We also began mobilizing the people. We declared that the time had come to hoist the flag at the Hubli maidan at any cost, even at the cost of our lives.
WHAT HAPPENED ON 15-08-1994?
We started mobilising the people as I mentioned earlier. We conducted padayatras throughout Karnataka. BJP leaders went round the state and addressed public meetings to explain the significance and the necessity of hoisting the national flag at Hubli maidan on the ensuing August 15th 1994.
Thousands of young people and college students throughout Karnataka came forward and offered to participate. But the Karnataka government took a decision not to allow anyone to enter Hubli from August 12 onwards until Independence day They started arresting us in our home towns. But several people gave the slip and reached Hubli. I was also wanted by the police. Somehow I reached Hubli. Thousands of BJP workers were arrested. To arrest our workers the police adopted even un-ethical means. For example, in Shimoga the DSP announced that he was going to assemble a peace committee. But my friends who were taken in by the ruse and who went to the peace committee were all taken into preventive custody.
On August 15,1994, Mr.Sikhandar Bakht who had an appointment with the Governor of Karnataka and also meet the press was arrested even before he could step out of the aircraft at Bangalore airport. The police arrested him and also those of our cadre who went to the airport to receive Mr.Bakht.
The government declared that it would not allow Ms.Uma Bharathi to enter Hubli .The government had clamped a curfew on that city two days before the event.
And yet 6,000 BJP workers entered Hubli and they were given shelter in about 2,000 to 2,500 houses. People gave them food. We told them that we were from the RSS and BJP and asked them if they would accommodate us. I am happy to say that there was not a single refusal to shelter us.
Ms.Uma Bharathi also reached Hubli giving the slip to the police. She even addressed a press conference in Hubli and the police were surprised the next day to see her photograph appearing in the newspapers.
We had our own strategies for hoisting the flag. We publicly announced that thousands of us will surface in the maidan at 11.30 in the morning in spite of the curfew and para-military forces, Mahratta regiment, Rapid Action Force etc. and hoist the flag at the maidan at 12 noon. Posters were pasted and hand bills distributed.
Of course, it was a war of wits. The challenge was whether the BJP could hoist the national flag on that day at the maidan. The Government used all foul means to see that the programme of unfurling the national flag in the maidan on Independence Day was foiled. The Government media was misused and a falsehood was propagated that the maidan was Wakf property and if the national flag was hoisted there, there would be bloodshed and so on and so forth.
The Government used the police force to arrest the activists of BJP and to prevent them from reaching Hubli as planned.
We had trained 90 of our young men to break the police cordon, enter the maidan and hoist the national flag. As already mentioned the maidan is in the heart of the city of Hubli . All surrounding buildings were searched by the police and made "sterile". But we managed to gain entry and bring 90 youths two days prior to the event and housed them in the surrounding buildings. For two days the youths lived only on bread and water. Since it was a shopping area, there were no toilet facilities and we provided them with plastic bags for their ablutions.
At 6.20 a.m. on August 15, from one corner a group of 20 youth managed to come out of the buildings and began raising the slogan, "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". The police swooped on them and beat them up. Many were injured. The next batch of 20 youths immediately rushed out of the buildings from another corner and entered the maidan carrying the national flag and forged ahead shouting "Vande Mataram". It was precisely at 6.47 a.m that the national flag was hoisted at the maidan by two of our workers. They were also beaten up mercilessly and taken into custody. Subsequently the police DIG went round the buildings with his force, searched them and seized two of our video cameras.
But one of our photographers who was 300 metres away in a building on its third floor fixed the camera and took some photographs of the happenings in the maidan. Unfortunately they are hazy but we do have the photographs. One can see what exactly happened in the photograph. Our friend Ramesh was running, carrying the national flag atop in the maidan . We succeeded in hoisting the national flag.
POLICE FIRING
No cases have been fled against the arrested persons till today, why?. It is because if a case is filed, the court would say that these persons will have to,, be punished for defying the curfew. In that case the government has to admit that it was incapable of enforcing the curfew.
We had hoisted the national flag. So we decided to celebrate the Vijay Utsav on the same day at 11.30 a.m by going to different parts of Hubli, in groups. One group was to be led by our state President and another was to be addressed by the State Secretary. The third was to be addressed by Mr.Yaduyurappa and myself and the fourth by Ms.Uma Bharati.
Though the curfew continued to be in force in the city, thousands of people came exactly at 11.30 a.m, not knowing that the flag had already been hoisted. Wherever we addressed them, we told them that the flag was hoisted and that they should disperse now. People were very happy and started dispersing. Suddenly one policeman came out from a police van and started to beat me and Mr.Yaduyurappa. I do not know what provoked them to make the lathi charge, though we explained to the police that we were not going to the maidan. They dragged us to the van and took us to the hospital. Ms Uma Bharati was also arrested. After the meetings were over, people began to disperse, About 60 to 80 of them were returning to their houses from a meeting place which is in a middle class locality called Deshpande nagar which is 2 kms away from the maidan. A few ladies and children were standing outside their homes. Suddenly a KSRTC bus carrying policemen came there and stopped. Policemen got out of it and started firing indiscriminately. No reasons were given for opening fire and no obligatory warning was given before the shooting. Four persons were killed on the spot and nearly 20 were injured. This happened 2 kilometers away from the maidan. Women and children were injured and a small boy who was playing with his sister was killed in front of his house.
Now the question is," Why should the police resort to firing resulting in the killings? ". The incidents happened around 12.20 p.m. The police opened fire, killed and dragged away four of them who had died in the firing.
The injured were taken to the Karnataka Medical College Hospital. People assembled in front of the hospital around 4.30 p.m. to see the dead and the injured. There too the police started firing. As an inpatient of the hospital I heard the sound of firing by the police. One person was killed in that round of firing.
Five people were killed needlessly on August 15th and now the government has the audacity to say that we wanted to hoist the flag at the maidan to create a tamasha which resulted in the death of five persons and hence were responsible for the incidents.
But what is the truth? Who killed these people? Was there any provocation? Was there any tension? There are certain stipulations before the police can open fire. The police have to first lathi charge, then burst teargas shells , then announce over the megaphones that if people do not clear off, they would have to resort to firing. The police did not follow these procedures. They simply alighted from the bus and began opening fire all of a sudden. First four persons died and later one more died in front of the hospital.
The .whole of Karnataka observed a bandh on August 17 to voice their protest against the killings of innocent people in Hubli on the 15th of August. The BJP organised public meetings to condemn the police firing and killing. After one such meeting the people were going back home when suddenly a sound of firing was heard; One person died. The Union Minister Rajesh Pilot says that it was an accident. Would anybody believe it? The meeting was over and people were going back. There was no shouting and yet one person was killed by the police. I hope all of you understand the gravity of the situation .
I hold the Karnataka Chief Minister Mr.Veerappa Moily to be responsible for all this. This then is the truth of the events at Hubli on August 15,1994.
The flag hoisting at Hubli is not an election oriented issue and we do not want to turn it into a vote bank exercise. On the other hand, the Congress and other political parties are trying to make it an election issue by telling the Muslims that they will not be safe in the hands of the BJP. Let us say for argument's sake that the maidan belongs to the Muslims. Why should anyone say that the national flag should not be hoisted on this maidan simply because of that. We are thus trying to push the Muslims away from the national mainstream telling them that they have nothing to do with India, that they have nothing to do with the Tri-colour, that they have nothing to do with the 'Vande Mataram', that they have nothing to do with 'Jana Gana Mana', that they have nothing to do with our constitution. These then are the wider implications of saying that the national flag should not be hoisted at the maidan even assuming that it belongs to the Muslim trust.
THE MESSAGE
The message of Hubli is that the
unity and integrity of this country shall not be compromised. Ours is one
country; one people; one nation, one culture.
Shri D.H.Shankara Murthy, BJP MLC
from Karnataka.