New Delhi: The Karnataka government on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the two men killed in violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Mangaluru on December 19.

“I have directed the Deputy Commissioner (of Dakshina Kannada district) to give Rs 10 lakh each to the two families. The amount will be paid to them today,” chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru after visiting the next of kin of those killed in that city.

The chief minister said he would order an apolitical inquiry into the incident after holding discussions with Home Minister Basvaraj Bommai, who was also present, on the modalities of the probe.

Yediyurappa flayed the Congress for creating confusion among people on CAA and misleading them just to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre.

He alleged that after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stated she would lead the movement against the law in Delhi, party leaders were behind “disturbing peace” in the country.

Former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy were denied permission to visit Mangaluru on Saturday since a curfew was in place. After curfew was relaxed on Sunday, Kumaraswamy visited the families of the two people killed and handed a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the next of kin.

Slamming Yediyurappa, Kumaraswamy demanded the suspension of police officers responsible for the deaths of the two and removal of the state home minister.

On Sunday, speaking at a campaign rally ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that “urban Naxals” and the Congress were spreading lies about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the National Register of Citizens.

“They are falsely saying that I will take away people’s rights,” Modi said at Ramlila Maidan. “In fact, I am just giving more people rights.”

“Muslims who are from India have nothing to do with the CAA or NRC,” Modi continued. “They will not be put in detention centres. There are no detention centres in India.” Several reports have exposed how detention centres are being constructed in different parts of the country – from Karnataka to Assam.

The prime minister also tried to distance his government from the NRC, saying that his government had nothing to do with the decision and was simply acting on the Supreme Court’s orders in Assam.

As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) continue across the country and the police clamps down on them in several parts, 23 people have been killed so far. Sixteen of these deaths have been in Uttar Pradesh alone, and large parts of the state are facing an internet shutdown. One of victims was an eight-year-old boy.

Ahead of an anti-CAA rally and protest, mobile internet services have been suspended in Jaipur as well.



