Two recent incidents have sharply highlighted how, aided by a sympathetic BJP government in the state, the self-styled moral police are holding Bangalore citizens to ransom.

Last week a slutwalk had to be called off after rightwing activists threatened to whack participants with brooms. That was enough for the police to withdraw permission for the 4 December event. The organisers, who landed at the venue to tell participants about the cancellation, were picked up for defying orders.
Last month, the police forced Maraa, a media and art collective, to cancel an event exploring the role of art and literature in a conflict zone. They cited a Facebook message posted by Tejinder Pal Bagga, founder of the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena that took responsibility for attacking senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan over his purported remarks on Kashmir. Bagga’s letter, addressed to the Bangalore city police commissioner, falsely claimed the event was being organised by a pro-Pakistan outfit and that Kashmiri separatist leaders were scheduled to speak.

The police didn’t bother to verify Bagga’s claim; they just landed up and forced the cancellation of the event. In the letter, Bagga asked activists to gather outside the venue with eggs, tomatoes and black paint to teach ‘anti-Indians and stone-pelters a lesson’. The organisers had invited artists from Kashmir and Delhi, and the event was scheduled to include a reading from The Collaborator, a novel by Mirza Waheed, and the screening of an animated short film by Sajad Mallik.