Coastal Karnataka, portrayed with vibrant histories and culture, particularly Dakshina Kannada, Mangalore, and Udupi, now finds itself mired in a deepening crisis of communal violence. The recent spate of killings, including those of Ashraf, Suhas Shetty, and Abdul Rahiman, has underscored a grim reality: the region is witnessing a dangerous return of organised hate, sustained and legitimised by the growing influence of right-wing ideologies, and a complicit state machinery.
The communalisation of this belt is not a sudden phenomenon. It is the outcome of a carefully constructed ideological project that has been underway since the 1980s. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates have systematically built their base in the region through dangerous educational, religious, and cultural interventions. A significant part of this groundwork has been carried out among OBC communities like the Billavas, many of whom have been mobilised through narratives of cultural pride and resentment against minorities. As a result, a fertile ground has been created for the marginalisation of Muslims and Christians, cow vigilantism, and moral policing under the guise of protecting “Hindu values”.
The recent violence, however, is not just a product of ideological propagation. It is actively fueled by provocations, misinformation, and political manoeuvres. On April 27th, 2025, 36-year-old Ashraf from Kerala was lynched during a local cricket match in Mangalore. Allegedly attacked for drinking water from temple premises, some claimed he shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”, a charge that local residents strongly contest. Three days later, Suhas Shetty, an accused in the 2022 murder of Muhammed Fazil, was killed. Fazil’s murder, in turn, was linked to the earlier killing of BJP worker Praveen Nettaru, who had tried to attack Abdul Safan in 2023. These interlinks form a cycle of revenge attacks, where each murder becomes a rallying point for the next.
Adding to the horror, on June 14, 2025, Abdul Rahiman, a pick-up van driver and mosque secretary, was brutally hacked to death by 15 men in broad daylight while unloading sand. His companion was critically injured. This attack came days after provocative speeches by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders. Though VHP leader Sharan Pankhvel was arrested for inciting violence, he was released on bail within days, revealing the leniency often extended to those spreading hate.
These incidents are not isolated; they reflect a disturbing pattern. Right-wing organisations often seize upon the deaths of Hindus, regardless of context, and frame them as targeted killings of “Hindutva activists.” This labelling occurs even when the victims had no ties to any political or religious outfit. Such incidents are spun as part of a “jihadi conspiracy”, and calls for retaliation are made, escalating the communal divide. This narrative of victimhood and retribution is amplified by social media influencers, WhatsApp forwards, and mainstream media channels that uncritically reproduce communal rhetoric.
Investigations by civil society groups have exposed how these communal tensions are also entangled with organised crime networks involved in sand mining, cattle smuggling, and land disputes. What are often personal or economic conflicts are deliberately given communal colour to serve political ends. Many of these “revenge attacks” trace back to disputes over property, wages, or local dominance, but are transformed into communal flashpoints by vested interests.
The role of the state apparatus in this crisis has been deeply troubling. Multiple testimonies point to police inaction or outright complicity in communal violence. Victims and survivors report that FIRs are often not filed, and those arrested are released without adequate investigation. In several cases, panchayat members and police officials themselves have been implicated in fuelling tensions. This erosion of trust in the legal system further emboldens hate groups.
In response to the escalating violence, the Karnataka government has announced the formation of a Communal Violence Prevention Task Force, drawing personnel from anti-Naxal units and deploying them in sensitive districts. Home Minister G. Parameshwara and District Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao have assured stricter policing and reforms. However, it is evident that these are reactive measures. Without addressing the structural enablers that pour money into saffronising education and hate-driven funding networks, have their political and economic benefits from dividing the people communally, the violence will never end.
Bhagat Singh wrote in 1927 in Communal Riots and their Solutions that the roots of communal violence lie not merely in religious differences but in deep economic and political injustice. “Whatever happens in the world, money can easily be traced as the reason for that event,” he wrote. The path forward, especially in communally volatile regions like coastal Karnataka is to build movements to unite the oppressed people and expose the modus operandi of the ruling classes to prevent people from uniting for their liberation from these very violent systems. The way forward, as Bhagat Singh said, lies in unity on the basis of class struggle with a dream of an economically and politically just society.
