‘He should be arrested’: Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar over Ashwath Narayan’s ‘hate speech’ against Siddaramaiah

“Do  you want Tipu or Savarkar? Where should we send this Tipu Sultan? What did Uri Gowda Nanje Gowda do? You should finish him off the same way?” he had asked while referring to recent versions of the death of Tipu Sultan which suggest the Muslim ruler was killed by a Vokkaliga chieftain in South Karnataka.

Shivakumar said on Tuesday, “Siddaramaiah is a former CM and now the Opposition leader. He is a great asset to the state. A minister drunk on power has said that Tipu (Sultan) was knifed to death. The higher education minister is saying that Siddaramaiah should be killed in the same manner as Tipu Sultan and what are the government, the CM, the chief secretary, the home minister, the DG and SP doing”.

Ashwath Narayan and Shivakumar belong to the Vokkaliga community.

#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: Congress workers held a protest against the state budget which was presented today and against state minister’s CN Ashwath Narayan’s ‘Tipu Sultan’ remark on Former CM Siddaramaiah pic.twitter.com/1sU98T6eob

— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2023

The demand by Shivakumar for action against the BJP minister was his strongest reaction to the attack on Siddaramaiah, his main rival for the chief minister’s post in the Karnataka Assembly polls, since the statements were made by Ashwath Narayan.

“I have stated earlier that the CM and the BJP leader J P Nadda should reply on the issue. The minister has claimed that he apologises if anybody’s feelings have been hurt by his statements. This is not an issue that can be ended with an apology. This is a provocative statement that is on record. Let it be a minister or anyone. The laws of the country should be used and a case should be registered,” he said.

“They had cases registered against us for merely saying PayCM. Now, they are sitting quietly when a minister has called for the finishing of a former chief minister. A case has to be registered in the same region as where the speech was made and he should be arrested,” Shivakumar stated. “The BJP should know that the president of India Ramnath Kovind has spoken about the contributions of Tipu (during an address to the state legislature in 2017),” he said.

ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಗೃಹ ಇಲಾಖೆ ಸತ್ತುಹೋಗಿದೆ, ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಗೃಹಸಚಿವರು ಒಬ್ಬ ಅಸಮರ್ಥ. ಇವರು ಸಮರ್ಥರಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಕೊಲೆ ಬೆದರಿಕೆ ಹಾಕಿರುವ ಸಚಿವ @drashwathcn ಅವರು ಈಗ ಜೈಲಲ್ಲಿರುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಸಚಿವರಿಗೆ ಗೃಹ ಇಲಾಖೆ ಮೇಲೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಹಿಡಿತ ಇಲ್ಲ.
8/8#Session2023

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) February 21, 2023

Siddaramaiah also called for police action against the higher education minister for his “hate speech”. “I am ready to face any threat. They could not face Mahatma Gandhi and he was killed. The police department is dead and the Home Minister is weak and so no case of hate speech has been registered. It is not colloquial language to say you will kill a person,” he told the state legislature on Tuesday.

“I will not change my stand despite the threats and provocation against me. I will stick to my stand. If they have the guts and the strength let them kill me,” Siddaramaiah said.“The government should have registered a suo motu case. It did not do so. I will continue to campaign on behalf of the poor, the minorities, and the backward castes. We will fight on behalf of the poor of all religions. They are not ready to discuss the issue of development and so they are making these kinds of statements,” he added.

Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra told the legislative assembly that no case was registered against the higher education minister because he had apologised and had said the statement was not intended to hurt Siddaramaiah’s sentiments. “You have no issues so such issues are raised. The minister has said that what he said was accidental,” Araga Jnanendra said.