mangalore the beauty of coastal karnataka is in sharp contrast to its politics sparkling backwaters and swaying palms were once witness to a land of religious coexistence but over the last two decades this picturesque region has been caught up in the politics of religious polarisationit was from here the sangh parivar first began its campaigns starting with hindu mobilisation against migrant muslim workers from kerala in the 1983 assembly elections the bjp won 18 seats for the first time mostly from the coastal districts of dakshina kannada and uttar kannadain 2013 the congress breached the saffron fortress and swept the region as the sangh parivar faced a revolt within out of 12 seats of dakshin kannada congress won 10 bjp 2 in mangalore out of 8 seats congress won 7 a year later though in lok sabha polls it was business as usual as the bjp won all 3 mp seats of coastal karnatakamangalore comprises 18 per cent muslims 13 per cent christians and 69 per cent hindus the mix of religions here makes mangalore a communal tinder box says suresh bhat bakrabail of the pucl but those fomenting communal troubles are only playing politics it is not religious but purely political communalism in 2014 bhat himself was attacked and his face smeared with cow dung by suspected bajrang dal activiststhe city based komu sauharda vedika or karnataka forum for communal harmony has compiled a comprehensive report showing that from 73 communal incidents in mangalore in 2010 the figure peaked to 228 in 2015 and remained high at 125 in 2017 the report states communal incidents are becoming more diverse from moral policing to attacks on cattle traders attacks against alleged conversions hate speech and attacks and counter attacks by hindu and muslim vigilantes social activist and mangalore based muslim education campaigner uh umar says theres unavoidable fear among minorities who prefer to keep a low profile we tell our people not to be scared but many are fearful among the muslims too some amount of communal movements are growing as a reaction to thisjagdish shenava mangalore president of the vishwa hindu parishad however asserts that it was not the hindus who started the violence in mangalore but it was the pfi or popular front of india or islamist organization that started it and hindus are only reacting sitting in the vhp office in a narrow bylane of mangalore shenava is a rotund mustachioed figure in a saffron kurta we will unite the hindus in this election and after the election will ensure a total ban on cattle slaughter and love jihad in karnataka shenava believes siddaramaiahs congress government is anti hindu which has completely failed to stop the killing of hindu youthhowever others feel they are at the receiving end of right wing violence in mangalores poor clares adoration monastery cloistered nuns tell toi about the terrible morning of september 14th 2008 when their monastery was attacked and the crucifix on the altar was badly damaged at