The Mangalore Riots - What Really Happened

Lots of [EDITED] in the Mangalore-Bhatkal region. These things happen frequently. Nothing new.

Hi Apollo
I seriously doubted the news as soon as the media started repporting. That is the level of confidence that people like me have started placing in the MSM sources. NDTV, CNN-IBN & Times NOw try to outdo each other in vying for any news that tries to paint a particular group in a bad light.
And anything remotely connected to that group becomes bad.

News reporting has reached new depths and there is no sign of it bottoming out anytime soon.

It is really shameful that a voilence of this magnitude should occur in Mangalore, a city that has very high educated population and all 3 major religions live harmoniously. The incident and subsequent reactions have occurred mostly due to misinformation and some irresponsible influential so called leaders. The leader who called the Bandh should come forward to apologize to the public for his emotional reaction and misuse of authority. The real sufferers due to this Bandh are the poor folks-- rikshaw drivers, small shop owners and others who live on daily income -- and these are mostly Hindus and unfortunately the leaders fail to see this.
I think it is time to stop blaming each other any more; and it is time for every one to forget and forgive and get back to normal life again. This incident should be a good lesson for every one to act patiently and responsibly in the future.

This is an interesting statement:


The driver of the tempo meanwhile thought the Bolero was following him in the pretext of attacking the van for transporting cattle and in fear he informed his associates at Kudroli.


Driver was afraid that he might be attacked because he was carrying cattle, and why did he have that fear? Because such attacks have happened in the past, right? We often shout that a religion should not impose its values on non-followers of that religion, then why do Hindus insist that slaughtering of cattle or cow be stopped?

Moreover, what about Bajrang Dal's role in this entire affair? I wish that they'd just stop sullying the role of one of Hinduism's most beloved gods.

Vikas Nice logic. I'am sure any of those media outlets will be glad to offer u a plum job :). U have lot of potential. U sound just like a budding Praful bidwai and the Argumentative Indian alias Amartya sen.

They failed to apply ur more superior logic and instead they are still harping that the BD actually physically intercepted the VAN. maybe u can help them polish their news report propoganda for them a bit and make it more believable.

sad that a lovely place like mangalore has to go through this.

Insanity,they say surfaces in mobs. It's so correct in this case.

when lot of impetus is being provided for the coastal city of mangalore, this incident would only hamper its progresss

Apollo: As a blogger at Desicritic in general and as an author of this post in particular, I expected a better response from you then name calling.

If it was a case of rash driving, then it should have been handled by the police, where was the need to turn it into a wild chase and then a communal event? Hindus worship cows while Muslims and Christians treat them as food. If we claim that we have a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society then why do we want to impose our values on them?

Of course, if we really worshipped the cows, we wouldn't leave them on roads like we do, letting them eat plastic bags and die a painful death but I guess that hypocrisy is a topic for another day. Though I wonder how many Bajrang Dal activists have cared for an ailing cow on the road.

Well, you don't seem to have the correct facts yourself! Here are some points from other media and from the Minister's statements, overlooked by you:
1. Not only did the vehicle illegally carrying cattle damage a jeep, women inhabitants of the jeep were beaten up by the cattle-truck driver!
2. The "ambulance" intercepted on way to Bajpe airport was not occupied by patients, it was reported by DNHS to have armed people. So why do you call its interception a shame without checking your facts?

In response to the comments posted by others:
1. So it is not shameful for the cattle transporters to beat up Hindu women and children, but it is shameful for a Hindu organization to call a bundh?! It is pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-secular people like you who are a big reason behind the communal problems in the country.
2. So you want cattle slaughter to be legalized in a predominantly Hindu country. Can you please suggest some reciprocatory measures that the Muslim minority community can offer? It is pathetic that people like you follow the minority appeasement policy, and thereby ruin the country. If you have ever seen children being brought up, have you observed what typically happens to a pampered child? It grows up spoilt and invariably ruins its own life and that of others.

- Mangalorean (and proudly so)

So you want cattle slaughter to be legalized in a predominantly Hindu country?


Well you can talk the talk but can't walk the talk? You can criticize Muslim majority countries for not letting people from other religions allowing freedom but your own hypocrisy escapes your attention? What is the difference between your question and a Saudi Arabian person claiming


"So you want women to roam around without veil in a predominantly Muslim country?"

Vikas,

When ur logic has been questioned u claim aggrieved status and claim that i indulge in name calling. I did not. I only pointed out that ur doing the same mistake as the mainstream media.

And u yourself are indulging in the same analogy with respect to Mangalorean when u compare him to a saudi wahhabi fundamentalist for expressing his point of view.

So why don't u just walk the talk yourself. The problem with left leaning people is that they think they are right and simply do not want to hear other viewpoints and some of them even go as far as disbelieving objective facts if it does not fit their pet theories. which is a sad reflection on the status of leftist thinking which is fast becoming irrelevant.

mangalorean,

I might have missed somethings out but i tried my best to get my facts right. If those van drivers actually got into a brawl and assaulted people then it makes sense of why the bolero chased him and why the van driver got afraid and called for backup from his friends.

He might not even be thinking about his cattle cargo at that time.

But what is being reported in the legacy media is that BD activists actually intercepted the van physically and assaulted the van occupants which never happened. the media has completely and conveniently neglected to mention that the van was involved in a unrelated accident. Selective reporting at its best.

Apollo My simple question is that does it behoove the majority religion of a multi-religious seculary country to impose its values on other religions?

And this question does not even take into account the fact that the majority itself can be accused of not caring for the very religious symbols that they claim to worship.

Vikas, ur addressing the wrong issue at the wrong person. I'am not debating whether anyone should impose his views on anybody else. Infact i might even agree with u on this.

What i'am addressing is the Media bias in reporting of the incident. They have done both selective reporting and distorting of actual objective facts and drumming it as truth.

Apollo: Sure the issue is relevant here. From the link that you yourself have highlighted in your post, BD anarchists were waiting to intercept the truck and this is what probably happened:


Commercial drivers in India are usually rash and a large majority of them probably don't undergo any formal training. The driver of this van must be driving this van under a high degree of tension because he knows that he is a goner if he is caught.

So an unskilled paranoid driver rams into a couple of vehicles and then scared for his life runs away from the scene of accident. When he realizes that he is being given a chase, his obvious thought would be that the BD type of people are after him and calls in for support.

From there onwards, the mobs take control of the situation, BD takes advantage of the situation and violence soon escalates.

Vikas, you are simply mixing up ur own subjective interpretation with objective facts.

U know a very wise man once said that "the simplest explanation is always the best one".

The incident here is just a case of hit and run. He was pursued by the same bolero he met an accident with. so that guy had a genuine reason to pursue the van totally unrelated to whoever was waiting for the van somewhere else for whatever reason.

got it- there is no connection between the bolero and the BD. they never knew that the other existed.

The van driver called his friends to come and save his ass that is objective fact. Why he did that? Why did he not call the police? because perhaps he knew he was at fault here in a case of rash driving. Later he or maybe some journo might have made up the story that he was afraid that he was being pursued by a Hindutva mob.

How does a vehicle u just were involved in a accident with suddenly become a Mob?


U know that is where i'am questioning the role of the media. This was a straight forward case of hit and run. had they said it the way it was the rioting might not even have started. by their shrill and biased reporting they have inflamed passions and helped start this whole thing.

HI Apollo,
There is no point in arguing with VIkas. He first of all obscured the main point. The whole discussion was converted in to "why Hindus should impose their values on muslims and christians?". This was not at all the fact. Did Bajrang Dal activists "intercept" this vehicle? Did Bajrang Dal activists come on to any MSM outlet and proclaim that the guys who were being chased or "intercepted" were being hounded coz they were carrying cattle. I dont know if you heard anything of this kind except that the media basically made this up. Lets put it this way.. Bajrang Dal activists got hit, they pursued the guy who hit them. The guy got shit scared, called up his friends. A brawl ensued. Bajrang Dal activists and leaders being hot headed, called for a unwaranted bandh. Nothing more nothing less. But to put the blame on the "rioting" on Bajrang Dal alone.. hmm.. smacks of bias. The reporting that MSM did was third grade, absolutely the pits. It is only NDTV, CNN-IBN , TImes now which are proclaiming all this. The hindi news media has not been shouting from roof tops. have they?
All in all ,Vikas just to answer your question... HIndus never imposed their way of life on others. .... Cow slaughter still goes on. And muslims still have beef. THat is proof enough of Hindus follow the principle of live and let live. Your comparisons of Hindus with Saudi fundamentalists are completely obnoxious. Saudi Arabia wont even permit anyone to have a idol at home. Here you can find masjids and churches everywhere. Cow slaughter is just one aspect where HInduism and other religions are in antithesis. There are a lot more. But Hindus never asked muslims to stop eating beef. That would be wrong.
So stop hounding Hinduism for all you are worth. It wont make any sense. Take off your tinted glasses and see the situation for what it exactly is. See the atal satya.

hi Why don't u take the cattle home and feed them. GOd gave us cattle to eat and produce milk. What would u do without milk? cattle meat is very good for your health. It has lot protiens. I love it. We do not need to Worship Animal. We don't have to fight over them. If you want to Worship them go head. some people like to eat and enjoy while we can.

Interesting case - once again deliberately obfuscated by the psuedo-liberal, psuedo-secular media.
Vikas says: "My simple question is that does it behoove the majority religion of a multi-religious seculary country to impose its values on other religions?"
Lets see believing that ALL divorced should have the right to alimony, child support and share of marital property is "imposing" Hindu values? In fact, believing that ALL women should have the right to an equitable divorce and not the "triple talaq" pronounced by a man is communal? Believing that a raped woman should not be divorced by her husband and married to her father-in-law is intolerant?
Or how about the fact that Catholic women in India still don't have the divorce settlement laws that Italy or Spain or other traditionally Catholic countries offer simply because it would be "imposing" majority values?
Such pseudo-secular posturing garbed in apparently liberal words damages inter-community relations at the end and holds back the country as a whole (just check the declining life indicators for Muslim women and children since the Shah Bano case).
Simple fact is if people are so keen to follow sharia laws, they should just go off and live in a country that follows such laws. After all, they aren't being forced to live in India!
And Vikas, you'd be better suited to the vote-bank religious politics of the Congress or SP. Ask for a ticket, you have the rhetoric just right!

How is it that I have obscured the main point? If this would have been just a case of hit-and-run, that is, if the van was not carrying cattle but carrying statues of Hanuman-ji instead, do you this case would have escalated so much?

There is an obvious elephant in the room, but people who'd usually pounce on the smallest infractions by the Muslim community fail to see it. Bajrang Dal is a quasi-terrorist organization and if it would have been possible I would have liked to sue them for sullying the name of my religion.

Of course, the media did it is the favorite blame line of religious conservatives, here in the US and in India as well.

BD is a fringe organization and like all political groupings takes advantage of all sorts of social fractures. However, your logic that Hindus must be consistently tolerant of all other religious practices while the minority community is never required to make any concessions is a bit lopsided. Most Muslim majority countries have problems with pork - don't see the minority communities in those places getting the righteous freedom to indulge their pork-eating habits. Or how about alcohol? Or indeed, the burqa. Or enforced Ramadan where it is ILLEGAL to eat or drink in public during the rozas. Don't see the Muslims in those places considering the rights of the non-Muslims to follow their particular cultural or religious practices.
I am glad that Hinduism is far more accepting of difference than any of the Semitic religions. However, tolerance and acceptance is not a one way street. Its about time that Muslims started extending the same respect to other religions as they demand from others. To argue otherwise is simply hypocritical and pseudo-secular.

"Bajrang Dal is a quasi-terrorist organization and if it would have been possible I would have liked to sue them for sullying the name of my religion."

Go ahead! Do it now! If you are really convinced, go file cases, show evidence to prove your case and win the cases. If you are really convinced that the majority is "imposing" values over the minority, go ahead, join the relevant fora and prove your assertions with rational arguments and evidence and survive debate. Empty rhetoric wont work. It's a waste of time - both for you and for us.

"Simple fact is if people are so keen to follow sharia laws, they should just go off and live in a country that follows such laws. After all, they aren't being forced to live in India!"

What are you saying! You've opened yourself to attack. The liberals will pelt you with pieces of their pseudointellectual garbage. Run for cover! :)

Vikas,
You asked "How is it that I have obscured the main point?".
Then you ask a rhetorical question-"If this would have been just a case of hit-and-run, that is, if the van was not carrying cattle but carrying statues of Hanuman-ji instead, do you this case would have escalated so much?"
Conjecture and speculation..hmmm
Does this not obscure the main point. To spell it out..
The main point ( would like to get corrected if found wrong) of Apollo's post was to bring out the fact how the media presents the fact in an obtuse way. Cattle or no cattle, the case was a hit and run and people were chased and not intercepted as projected by the media. And if you bring out all the facts of course people will get the true picture. Why can the media not report it as it is. Why not say there was a hit and run incident, then Bajrang Dal activist who were hit , gave it a chase and then called bandh ( unwarranted as it was). THis lead to tension.
How about that .... instead of saying that Bajrang Dal activists intecepted a vehicle , and there was no provocation except that cattle were being transported.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.. Mohamad Afzal's hanging debated will provide you with so many examples of media trying to infuence public opinion against it.
It is sad but true. Media needs to be a watchdog, but not a tail wagging dog for the central government which waits for a few juicy bones and runs after those whom its masters point for their own benefit.

I am pleasantly surprised to see so many people recognising pseudo-intellectualism and pseudo-secularism for what they are!

BTW, the Bolero that chased the cattle truck was not driven by Bajrang Dal folks, it was driven by an ordinary citizen and the occupants were his family. He chased the cattle truck because of the hit and run. He and his family (i.e. women and children) were ambushed by Muslims summoned by the cattle truck driver. Only after this incident did Bajrang Dal people show up, and then call for a bundh.

BTW, a couple of days before this incident there was another incident in Bajpe precipitated by goonda Muslims, when they intercepted a Sharada Devi procession that had a tableau depicting the famous Bappa Byari. This blatant case of goonda Muslims deliberately thwarting a tableau that depicted communal harmony has gone completely unreported in the media!

For a change, I am glad there is a Bajrang Dal. Otherwise we Hindus will be run over by the media, politicians (e.g. Congress folks), and pseudo-secularists falsifying facts and shutting up the already silent majority. I think the threshold of tolerance has now been crossed.

- Mangalorean

BTW, the Bolero that chased the cattle truck was not driven by Bajrang Dal folks, it was driven by an ordinary citizen and the occupants were his family. He chased the cattle truck because of the hit and run. He and his family (i.e. women and children) were ambushed by Muslims summoned by the cattle truck driver. Only after this incident did Bajrang Dal people show up, and then call for a bundh.

This needs to be in bold letters.so that even color blind sickulars can also see. :)

To Mangalorean,
1)Mangalore's SP gave a statement that the Cattle laden truck didnt hit any vehicle and that no woman was reported injured.
2)The vehicle was followed by BD members because the vehicle owner didn't pay 'hafta' to BD members to sell the cattle.
3)BD members allow illegal cattle slaughter in Dakshina Kannada only if they are paid their share.
3)The guy who was dragged and killed out of the ambulance was a labourer planning to fly to Dubai to feed his family and was being escorted by his male relatives.

Irrespective of being Hindus or Muslims, shame on Mangalore and Mangaloreans, who have been encouraging madmen of Bajrang Dal and SIMI!Atleast now learn to live like humans.

The Kaup police (near Mangalore City) have arrested four persons for illegally transporting cattle on Thursday October 5 at Polipu Cross near here. The arrested have been identified as Sanjeeva Devadiga (45), son of Rama Devadiga, a resident of Devsadabettu, Manoor, Kota, Shankar Shetty (49), son of Muthayya Shetty of Manoor, Kota, and Mohandas (49), son of Sankappa Bhanadri of Giliyoor village, Gulladi cross, Kota were arrested. They were transporting 4 buffalos illegally from Kota to Mangalore. However, the Kaup police acting on sure tip off intercepted their vehicle at Polipu Cross and arrested them. Police have also seized the vehicle along with buffalos. The Kaup police have registered a case in this regard. All these guys belong to Bajrang Dal and where supplying cattle to slaughter houses. (I thought Bajrang Dal is against Cow Slaughter???)

October 4th 2006:
5 Cases of non-fatal accidents reported from Dakshina Kannada (as reported in the official website of SP of Dakshina Kannada,Mr.Dayananda.B http://spdk.blogspot.com/2006/10/daily-crime-incidents-for-october-04.html)
Result: No bandh, no communal riots
Why: All the accused were non-muslims and Bajrang Dal didn't care.

October 5th, 2006:
One case of non-fatal accident by the same vehicle
Result: Dakshina Kannada Bandh for 2 days, communal riots
Why: Because the accused were Muslims and Bajrang Dal wants justice!
Strange? Not if you are from Bajrang Dal and your aim is to forcibly convert all Indian Muslims and Christians into Hindus (as quoted on Bajrang Dal's official website http://www.hinduunity.org/bajrangdal.html, which was recently banned in India)

I am amazed that those who call Bajrang Dal names havent said a single word against SIMI - so much for being level headed.

And one thing that should be noted is that such riots rarely happen spontaenously - the anger, discontent would be simmering over a long time and someday some incident provides a spark and things explode. And what keeps the things simmering is the minority appeasement by all concerned.

case in point is the much maligned Gujarat - If riots could happen after Godhra and if BJP etc were seen as the evil, then why didnt anything happen when Akshardham temple was attacked a few months down the line- do you think that people consider Akshardham any less outrageous than Godhra?

my .02 Rs

Wow! I am pseudo-secularist !!

Maybe if I wait until morning I will grow some horns.

Guys - before you start a laundry list of what we do for minorities and what they don't do in return or what the Muslims do in middle east and how we are much better than them, please realize that if we are laying a claim to a better society then we really cannot compare ourselves to the societies that we loathe.

The exact same debate is going on in the US. The conservative right keeps saying, "Well the terrorists are so brutal so why can't we torture them?"

And somehow, my take on the events is subjective while yours is objective? Were you there? Did it happen in front of your eyes? Are you Sanjay who recited the events of Mahabharat to Dritrashtra?

Dear, Appolo, Manglorean, Kannan and Anamika

Can u pls. comment on Post 26 (Proud not to be a Manglorean), 27 (Roshan Dias) and 28th (Indian).

Don't you like to comment on these posts, or u don't have words to face actual evidence. I think u all r Hidden Bajrang Dal's coward people. I am from Bombay and frequently visit Mangalore and I always notice some Hindu extremist like BD always has jealous with Muslim business man having good business in Mangalore city. I want to tell those people that to earned money u have to put hard work and not to be jealous and loot / rob from other people (Like Shiv Sena and Bajrand dal mentality).
Now think when those Muslim extremist who have been put into jail by bias police when they will be released and attach back on Hindu community those BD coward people will sure be run away and where u all ( Hidden fanatic Hindus) will go.?????

"You put a fuel in fire and think ur hand will not burnt". Be aware if u want to live a peaceful life.

I didnt bother commenting on post 26 because it seems to be now going into a bureaucratic spin just like with Godhra. There as well we suddenly had statements a few days later from officials. Even in Varanasi -my home town- the police make statements after riots that there are no weapons found in mosques. This despite confiscating them on a regular basis. Having lived in India and seen riots, doesn't surprise me. Its standard politics to blame Hindus, exonerate Muslims, and pretend that it is all for communal harmony.
As far as jealousy of Muslim businessmen is concerned, I don't know the specific case of Mangalore, but its a laughable notion. All across the country Muslim populations are growing increasingly impoverished because of their own refusal to participate in education, the new economy and of course anti-women and children sharia laws that ensure that the community remains ignorant, illiterate and poor in large parts. Even in Britain, 2nd and 3rd generation of South Asian Muslims show the worst economic levels and life indices. So definitely something to envy there....
About burning hands - "You put a fuel in fire and think ur hand will not burnt". Be aware if u want to live a peaceful life" - sounds like a threat.
So let me point out some of the fuel put in the fire in the recent past - Mumbai blasts, Akshardham, Varanasi temple attack, Parliament attack, India Gate bombings in Mumbai, Godhra, various Delhi blasts, recent Mumbai train bombs. The common thread there is that they have all been carried out by Muslims. In response you get the Mumbai riots which were in many ways reactive and expression of pent-up anger, Gujarat riots (again reactive). The case in Mangalore seems the same.
Seems like the reactions so far have been from the Hindu fringe organizations like Bajrang Dal.
But I also see the anger growing and that is a frightening idea because its a slow burning anger.
I find your logic amusing - so BD members are cowards? But Dawood Ibrahim I assume is a lion of Islam? Mobs and criminals are ALWAYS cowards. I must say your comment about cowardice reminded me of the propaganda we used to hear in Pakistan - where Hindus were cowards and weaklings because they were "baniyas" (yes, funny how some words survive apparent lack of caste) and "vegetarians." Might explain some of the misguided adventures that country takes up every so often.
I would simply reiterate something that Vajpayee has said (although in a different context): Dont take patience and tolerance for weakness. Even the placid elephant eventually reacts to mosquitos.....

AntiMangalorean,

You accuse others of being cowards. If you are the bravest man on earth, then why dont you use your real name instead of using an alias like Anti-Mangalorean/Proud-not-to-be-a-Mangalorean? Own up your comments. Your name obviously shows you hate Mangaloreans, irrespective of whether they're Hindus, Muslims, Christians, BD or SIMI activists.

"You put a fuel in fire and think ur hand will not burnt". Be aware if u want to live a peaceful life."

Is it some kinda threat?

What do u mean by a peaceful life? Were those 200 who died in the Mumbai train blasts not leading a "peaceful life" when they were blown up?

Were those in Varanasi, Akshardam, jammu, bangalore iisc, delhi, not leading peaceful lives when they were blown up.

The only choice that ur giving to the infidels is to keep quiet and lead a "peaceful life" so that u can kill them at random whenever u feel like or If they open their mouth u will have a bullet or knife ready with their name specifically written on it.

I'am sure most of us have had a similar experience with school yard bullies. And we know what kind of cowards they really are. And u certainly are one Mr Anti-everything. Go get a life.

#26,

that is the most laughable thing ever. it has got propoganda written all over it.

well, well, well.. What do we have here? Lots of BD bashing, some "funny" posts, and lots of pseudo secularist rubbish.. Isnt it time we got back to talking about the post? Isnt the media coverage supposed to be the topic????

Comment 26..... hahahahaha...
That is what it qualifies for

Point out sources.. atleast one.. which says all that you have stated.

The site is crawling with Islamofascist-bolsevites. Payed agents of evil of axis who can distort the news to thier favour.

apollo:

the write up is good and balanced and rightly points at the weakness of the media


the subsequent comments are all over;)


wonder if the media subsequently improved their coverage, corrected or retracted?

Post #26, the first three points of it at least, is a joke. Many newspapers and the police reported the hit and run, but did not sufficiently emphasise that its occupants were ordinary citizens. Regarding point 4 of post #26, the Home Minister has issued a statement that the antecedents of the ambulance occupants are being investigated.

Posters #26, #27, and #28: how come you have ignored my comment about the Sharada Devi procession??

Regarding veracity, yes it is a good idea to quote sources where possible. At the same time, the point of such blogs is to bring out the facts suppressed by the traditional media, isn't it?

BTW, if you watched TV yesterday, you would have seen the Home Minister inspecting a temple that was vandalised during/before the bundh. How many newspapers have reported this?? There is also a report (on mangalorean.com or some such site) that more than 50 women and children have been huddled into camps in Veera Nagar (near Ullal) because their homes were vandalised, and that despite this the Muslim politician of the area has claimed things are normal. I think we can safely infer that these women are Hindus?!

temporal: Maybe the scales you are using are flawed, but I did not find this post balanced from any perspective. After reading your comment, I went back and read it again but came to the same earlier conclusion - this post was never about balance in media.

Apollo cites links from PTI, Reuters and Manglorean.com and somehow wants us to believe that the narrative of Manglorean is correct while PTI and and Reuters, somehow being part of the secular media (whatever that means), purposely distorted the story.

This post was always about agreeing with the version of events that Apollo would have liked to have occurred (and they very well may have - but we have no way of knowing it, do we? at least not based on the information that Apollo provides here).

temporal #39

thanks,

the media did none of the above. if u remember the adnan hajj incident reuters never apologised. The ministry of truth can never be wrong.;)

temporal #39,

thanks,

the media never did any of the above. remember adnan hajj incident. reuters never apologised. the ministry of truth can never be wrong ;)

European love affair with Islam is gradually falling apart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/europe/11muslims.html

It makes me wonder...

Why can't I create a religion right now, which says that I as a male have an obligation to wear a mask that hides my face? I can also say that it is a sin against my religious beliefs for me to allow my fingerprints to be taken, and that I consider it sacrilege. I can also say that in my religion, it is my sacred duty to carry a gun at all times -- let's make it an automatic weapon.

Basically, I can construct a religion based on any rules I want, since there isn't any restriction on what can or cannot be stipulated as part of a religion, or made into a core requirement.

Sikhism evolved the requirement of carrying a knife, I can go one better by creating the requirement of carrying a ceramic knife or ceramic gun. Hey, it has to be made of the holy ceramic, which is my special sacred material in my religion. Or Kevlar-reinforced composite -- that's holy for me too.

Islam says women should wear the veil and men should be covered in a beard, so I can go one better and say that my religion requires me to wear a Ski-Mask. Hey, it's my holy right.

It's also against my religion to be photographed. Or fingerprinted. Or tape-recorded. Or to have my signature taken. Or my semen sample taken. Or my blood sample taken. Or my hair sample taken. Or my saliva sample taken.

It is also my sacred obligation to wear a long trenchcoat, like the kind worn by gunmen at Columbine. I must also be permitted the right to carry the holy narcotics with me, as they help me achieve communion with God.
They help to give me divine visions.

Sanjay: I don't think Europeans ever had a love affair with Islam - far from it. Europeans were simply correcting their own centuries of over-zealous following of a crude form of Christianity and in their attempt to build a secular, inclusive society, they naturally assumed Islam (or any other religion for that matter) to be a part of it.

Now, as it turns out, Muslims in Europe are turning out to be the one who bites the hand that feeds them and hence the brouhaha.

"We are all daily wagers. We did not have any animosity with other community members. I have lost my brother for what reason I do not know". Times News network http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newsid=34385&newstype=local

To Sanjay: I am not angry with you. It's natural to be jealous of the fastest growing religion in the West. You know which religion Im speaking of ; )

Vikas: "Muslims in Europe are turning out to be the one who bites the hand that feeds them"
Does this also apply to the Hindu traitors and terrorists who have killed and still are killing thousands of us peace-loving Buddhists in Sri Lanka?

Minor difficulty Dias - Sri Lankan majority happens to be Buddhist, as well as the army. Seems like the peace loving Buddhists are doing the big killing there. Also LTTE doesn't define itself as Hindu - but on ethnic terms (Tamil vs Sinhala). So really you're comparing apples and oranges.
CityStar - would that be the religion that manages to remain in poverty stricken ghettos regardless of its location? With highest levels of unemployment, illiteracy, poor health; with some of the highest numbers on the dole - especially in Europe, because it is "Islamic to live off a non-Muslim state"? Yes, sounds like grounds for envy alright...

Dias, it's not a Hindu-Buddhist fight there. It's Tamils vs. Sinhalese. It's an ethnic conflict, not religious.

when we say we are mangalorean we dont think that we r muslims hindus or chritians ,no matter what we think these politicians with no job, no qualifications , no head will direct poor jobless street hoolings to attach a minority community to prve that they r uin majorrity , inturn the minority big b's instead of fighting these idiots say calm down to their people every time , but this time around they to thought enough is enough we will fight n u land in war which is back by goverment , police , and fannatics bajrang dal , vhp etc which before the govermant in center did not existed and now they brain washed my friends too saying they r hindus so dont eat beef but without beef there is no party of so they do eat the m,s call beef as (togadiya fry ).haa haaan
this is to say that even the bajjees r eating beef then why the fuss all about , so be good citizens first then interfere in others matters enjoy life dont act foolishly life is small live peace and let others live in peace.
proud to be mangalorean
kodial jindabad

I was in Mangalore throughout the riots. Here is my unbiased conclusion.

The riots were started by muslims and simi group was an active participant. Retaliation is naturally expected when a minority community attacks a majority lest not doing so may be interpreted as a sign of weakness