The remarks have come at a time when right-wing groups have targeted people from minority groups on issues like the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls in colleges, the presence of traders from the minority community at temple fairs and alleged illegal conversions under the Bommai regime. A former Congress minister has claimed that unlike former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, the current BJP chief minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai has become subservient to the BJP’s ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In a series on messages on social media, Dalit leader and former minister Dr H C Mahadevappa said Bommai has surrendered before the RSS and the BJP. “The BJP and RSS, which mercilessly removed Yediyurappa from the CM’s post for not bowing to communal politics, have managed to put Bommai completely in the service of the RSS. By handing over his brain and senses, Bommai has become subservient to the RSS,” Mahadevappa, who had held the portfolio of health and public works, stated.
The remarks have come at a time when right-wing groups have targeted people from minority groups on issues like the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls in colleges, the presence of traders from the minority community at temple fairs and alleged illegal conversions under the Bommai regime.
“Bommai has begun adopting a don’t-care attitude to Yediyurappa as well and has been bowing to the RSS. In this way, he is disrespecting Yediyurappa who refused to bow down to the communal agenda and considered him (Bommai) worthy of being a chief minister. Will he be forgiven by history?” the former Congress minister asked in his social media posts.
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“The BJP has set its sights on the rice given to the poor and the jobs of youths. They have spoiled the atmosphere in schools attended by children from poor homes,” he said, referring to an ongoing controversy over the revision of school textbooks.
Yediyurappa, who relied less on communal agenda to win polls and, instead, focused on caste backing, was removed as chief minister in July 2021 by the BJP citing his advancing age and growing corruption charges.
Yediyurappa was replaced by his hand-picked candidate Basavaraj Bommai. Since Bommai’s takeover as the new chief minister of Karnataka in July last year, the state has seen a spurt of communal incidents and the chief minister himself endorsed acts of moral policing carried out by right-wing vigilantes in Mangalore last year.
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The chief minister, who will complete a year in office next month, has been accused by the opposition Congress and JD(S) parties of turning a blind eye to the communal agenda of right-wing groups.
“Our chief minister is a puppet of some organisations. He is running the government on their orders. To safeguard his seat he is listening to whatever they say,” former chief minister and leader of the Janata Dal (Secular) party, H D Kumaraswamy, said recently.
“In my opinion, this government is not functioning independently. There is some remote control that is in operation for running the government. He does not have the strength to run the government. RSS has the remote. The government is not being run to win the appreciation of the people of the state but it is being run to impress the Sangh Parivar,” he said.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
First published on: 03-06-2022 at 02:05:14 pm
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