BJP goes on aggressive mode over DK violence, boycotts meeting
- BJP boycotts the peace meeting organised by the Dakshina Kannada district administration
- BJP leaders instead participate in protest meet organised by BJP Mahila Morcha; continue to make provocative speeches
- JD(S) too boycotts the meet; has planned its own peace meet/rally
FollowHoping to sway the entire coastal region with its Hindutva politics, the Karnataka BJP has assumed a never-before aggressive stance over the attacks and killings of Hindu youths in the region.
While BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje has emerged as the party’s rabble rouser, a combative B S Yeddyurappa, who marched into Mangaluru on Thursday, gave a boost to the party’s politicking through his speeches and statements. Boycotting the peace meeting organised by the Dakshina Kannada district administration in Mangaluru, the BJP instead busied itself in lambasting the Congress government and its leaders.
Yeddyurappa, Karandlaje and other BJP leaders, including Nalin Kumar Kateel and Ganesh Karnik congregated at the protest meet organised by the party’s Mahila Morcha in the Town Hall, Mangaluru, which they used as a platform to further their politics. Berating the Congress, Karandlaje said that if attempts were made to arrest Bhat, Kateel or herself, then it would be the “last nail in Congress’s coffin”.
Going a step forward, Yeddyurappa, unmindful of the resultant repercussions, gave a call for Statewide rioting if the government made attempts to apprehend RSS strongman Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat. Karnataka would “burn” if the police even laid a finger on Bhat, he said, adding that the government would invariably be held responsible for the violence. He made these remarks after visiting Bhat at his residence soon after he landed in Mangaluru.
Yeddyurappa also accused that the attacks in the region were masterminded by AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal, who hails from Kerala. He said that the instances of perpetrators from Kerala entering Karnataka had intensified only after Venugopal was made Karnataka in charge.
He also alleged that government had delayed the announcement of RSS worker Sharath Madiwala’s death in order to host the Congress party meet in Mangaluru. Stating that the BJP would not tolerate any more attacks on Hindu leaders or workers, Yeddyurappa said that the party would convene a public meeting of over one lakh people in the district, once the prohibitory orders are lifted. “We will invite Rajnath Singh and show our strength,” he added. If the prohibitory orders are not lifted in the next few days, then the BJP leaders would launch a sathyagraha, he said.
Defending his party for boycotting the peace meet, BJP MP D V Sadananda Gowda said that District in-charge minister Ramanath Rai had invited minority organisations like the SDPI, but had failed to invite even a single Hindu organisation for the meeting. Gowda also said that there was no question of attending the meet as it was organised by Rai, who, he held responsible for the attacks.
Further, Gowda said that he had accepted Rai’s challenge about contesting from Dakshina Kannada, and hence had decided to visit Bantwal for three days as part of the Vistarak programme. It’s not just the BJP that is using Dakshina Kannada violence as a poll plank -- the JD(S) is not far behind. The regional party too boycotted the peace meet, as it has got the opportunity to host its own peace meet in Mangaluru.
The party, under the leadership of H D Deve Gowda will conduct the meet in the region shortly. The Congress on its part said that if the opposition parties, by backing out of the meet, had made it evident that they did not was peace prevailing in the region.
