Since 2018, Karnataka has seen at least 21 political murders

BENGALURU: Karnataka, which is reeling from three alleged political murders within a span of less than 10 days, has seen at least 21 such murders between January 2018 and June 2022, official data reviewed by TOI shows.
Government data since the time crime bureaus began classifying murders under ‘political reasons’ at the turn of the century (2000) shows Karnataka has seen more than 120 such killings at an average of around five murders a year. They are classified as ‘political’ based on backgrounds of individuals involved and the immediate motive.

Analysis shows the period when SM Krishna was chief minister saw the least killings (17) and the five years when Siddaramaiah was at the helm saw the most (34). But officials point out that the trend in cases could be for a variety of reasons.
“It could be that the system allowed registration of cases in one period or that the overall environment was more charged,” one official said, while another added that in many cases, murders would have been committed on the spur of the moment.

Home minister Araga Jnanendra claimed: “Previous governments did not register all cases and politicians encouraged organisations like the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) that have extreme religious views. Siddaramaiah even withdrew cases against around 2,000 members belonging to various organisations, which emboldened such people. Our government is registering all cases and is committed to taking all of them to a logical end.”
But former CM HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) argued that the BJP government is worsening the situation in Karnataka, which used to be a model state for peace and harmony.