BANGALORE, 26 August 2004 — A firebrand Hindu leader was detained yesterday after she quit as chief minister of a Indian state and traveled halfway across to country to give herself up on charges over a deadly religious riot a decade ago.
Uma Bharati, an influential figure in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was remanded in custody for two weeks until her pre-trial hearing over the charges, which include attempted murder and inciting a riot.
The case in the southern town of Hubli stems from a 1994 Hindu-Muslim row over a public field where Muslims often prayed.
Authorities in the state of Karnataka ignored the case for years. But a court this month issued a fresh warrant for Bharati’s arrest for defying a police ban in 1994 and leading hard-liners in a bid to raise the Indian flag to press their claim to the land.
Communal clashes followed the flag incident and six people died when police opened fire to disperse the rioters. It is unclear why the issue resurfaced now. Karnataka police made no attempt to arrest Bharati when she attended a public gathering in the state after the latest warrant was issued.
But on Monday, amid nationwide publicity, she resigned as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, India’s biggest state, and boarded a train to Hubli, where she received a hero’s welcome. Accompanied by police and supporters and wearing her trademark saffron robes, Bharati gave herself up at the court and did not apply for bail, police said. The former federal minister known for her fiery rhetoric says she is innocent and accuses the Congress party-led state government of a political witch hunt.
Crowds of supporters met her at stations along the way, with the trip being billed by her aides as a “yatra”, or Hindu religious procession. “It is unfortunate that after 57 years of independence, I have to go to jail because I hoisted the national flag,” she said. “I can sacrifice my life for the honor of the national tricolour. I am ready to go to jail,” she said.
Congress, the BJP’s main rival across india, has ruled Karnataka since 1999 and never before pressed the case. Bharati played a key role in the BJP’s rise to national power on a hard-line Hindu platform. The party was swept from office in New Delhi in May but still holds six states and is looking to fight back in a series of upcoming state polls. The first is on Oct. 13 in the crucial state of Maharashtra, home to the financial capital, Bombay. Bharati faces life imprisonment — 14 years in India — and disqualification from sitting in Parliament if convicted. But legal sources say such cases are notoriously hard to convict.
