Remember how Karnataka helped Chennai during floods: RJ Balaji on Cauvery violence
Chennai: Balaji, a well-known RJ from Chennai, has asked people to ‘look beyond their linguistic identities and discover their common humanity’ instead of fighting over Cauvery water as Kannadigas or Tamilians.
According to a report, in the message he uploaded to his Facebook page, he reminded the people of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka how everyone came together during last year's Chennai floods.
“During the Chennai floods, people of Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, helped us a lot. That’s what ordinary people’s hearts are like,” RJ Balaji said.
"Let's be sensible, sensitive Indians, human beings," the 31-year old RJ said.
RJ Balaji also criticized the way some people had taken to social media to to post and share videos of violent acts, and spread rumours. He asked them to ‘shut up and shut shop’ for a couple of days.
He suggested that the people who were engaged in violence in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu weren’t ordinary citizens but people with a political agenda, who wished to achieve their ends by exploiting linguistic differences.”
"The people in Karnataka who set KPN buses on fire weren't ordinary people like you and me. The people in Chennai who vandalized the Woodlands hotel weren't people like you and me. Those who did all this are people who hope that this issue will never be put to rest, that this problem will become bigger.
Balaji suggested the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karntataka should arrest the "madmen" perpetrating violence in both states. He called on civil society and authorities to solve the issue through dialogue, said the report.
Pro-Kannadiga mobs enraged by the Supreme Court order on the Cauvery issue have been on a rampage since Monday, setting fire to buses and trucks, stoning shops and attacking vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration plates. Section 144 was imposed in Bengaluru on Monday, where schools were shut and life came to a standstill. Despite deployment of RAF personnel and thousands of policemen across Karnataka, the violence continued through Monday.
On Tuesday, Bengaluru police asked the city's denizens not to unthinkingly believe messages they received on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Union minister Venkaiah Naidu asked the media to "show restraint" and avoid showing repeated visuals of violence.
