Dakshina Kannada orders removal of banners promoting hatred

Mangaluru: The district administration of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka ordered officials to remove problematic banners displayed in public in the district. This was after banners featuring Gandhiji's murderer Nathuram Godse and Hindu nationalist Veer Savarkar sparked a row in the coastal district, The News Minute (TNM) reported.

The administration directed the city's local bodies and gram panchayat to remove such banners, suggesting that they could seek the police's help.

Deputy district commissioner KV Rajendra ordered that suitable action could be initiated against those who place unauthorised-controversial billboards or hoardings in public, which promote hatred. Anyone wish to place such hoardings at authorised spots must take permission from the authorities concerned. Details of the printer of the banner must be mentioned in the banners, he said, and added that the usage of loudspeakers must be in line with the direction of the High Court and Supreme Court.

The Hindu Maha Sabha had raised controversial banners featuring Hindu nationalists in Surathkal and Udupi. It was a contentious poster the organisation displayed in Udupi on Independence Day, showing Savarkar and Subhas Chandra Bose and carrying the words 'Jai Hindu Rashtra'. After it became a controversy, police granted protection to it, TNM reports. Though the organisation took down the banner later, they justified that it was made welcome Krishna Janmashtami celebrations.

On August 18, the Mangaluru City Corporation removed banners by Hindu Mahasabha, which featured Nathuram Godse and Savarkar. Another one with Savarkar and Bose on it came up at the War Memorial in Ajjarkad in Mangaluru on August 20, TNM says.