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Journalism of Courage
THE LATEST BJP leader in Karnataka to go down the Tipu Sultan road to attack the Congress, Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan has triggered a controversy saying Siddaramaiah should be “finished off” just like the 18th-century Mysuru ruler was.
As Siddaramaiah sought his resignation, and other leaders expressed outrage, the minister told the Assembly Thursday that he regretted his remarks. “What I meant by using the phrase was that we should ensure the defeat of the Congress in the next election. I don’t have any personal differences with Siddaramaiah. I have only political and ideological differences,” he said. “If he is hurt by my statement, I express regret.”
The video of Narayan’s remarks regarding Siddaramaiah, made on Monday, emerged just hours after BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel asked people to chase away “those who support Tipu into the forest”. “Only those who perform bhajans of Ram” should remain “in this land”, he said.
Congress leaders have filed a complaint against Narayan and Kateel at Malleshwaram Police Station in Bengaluru.
Addressing a rally at Mandya Monday, Narayan said if the BJP loses the Karnataka Assembly elections, then Siddaramiah, “who admires Tipu”, will come to power. “Do you want Tipu or (V D) Savarkar? Where should we send this Tipu Sultan? What did Uri Gowda Nanje Gowda do? You should finish him off the same way,” he said. The BJP has lately taken to claiming that the two Vokkaliga Gowda chieftains were involved in killing Tipu.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Siddaramaiah said Narayan, “who called for assassination, has no moral right to continue in the Cabinet”. Asking whether this had come to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Siddaramaiah said the BJP’s “killing culture” exposes its “intellectual bankruptcy”. “They don’t have the courage to ask votes based on their achievements & hence are trying to instigate people to assassinate me.” If the BJP did not take action against the minister, he said, “it only means that BJP is in agreement with the appeal or they think Ashwath Narayan has become ‘Mentally Unstable’.”
Earlier, the former Congress chief minister said he respected Tipu, as he did “Kittur Rani Chennamma, Sangolli Rayanna and the like”. “I have humanity. I love Hindus, I love Muslims, I love Christians, (and) I love Sikhs. I love everyone,” he said. Later, he dared Narayan to “get the gun yourself” if he wanted to finish him off.
Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly U T Khader raised the matter in the Assembly during Zero Hour Thursday. “Let alone anti-social elements, the Higher Education Minister who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, who is a doctor, has made such remarks,” he said.
Khader demanded that a suo motu case be filed against Narayan for hate speech “to send a clear message”. Khader also pointed to Kateel’s remarks, and said hate speech had been rampant for the past month in the state. “We haven’t reacted as we did not intend to fall into the trap (set by the BJP),” he added.
Narayan tried to defend saying he was addressing a party workers’ convention in Mandya, and that in comparing Siddaramaiah to Tipu, he only meant to condemn “the glorification of Tipu”. While in ancient times, finishing off meant eliminating people during war, now it implied getting rid of one through the democratic process, he said.
The debate on the issue in the Assembly also saw a verbal spat between Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and Congress MLA Eshwar Khandre. The Congress MLAs entered the Well of the House, after the Speaker told Khandre: “It is a disgrace that people like you (Khandre) get elected.”
Later, after an adjournment, Kageri told the House he had made a “mistake” and did not mean to insult the MLA or his electorate. He assured he would expunge his remarks, following which Khadre withdrew the protest.
Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao said only cowards “give a call for murder” as they cannot face their ideological opponents. “Violence and cruelty are the last weapons of a coward,” he said.
Congress MLC Prakash Rathod dared Narayan to take on Siddaramaiah. “You will see that people of the state will rip your tongue out and feed it to the dogs,” he tweeted.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said a mentality to hurt people was bad. Pointing out that people like Tipu belong to history, he asked: “How will people alive today benefit from Tipu, or Rani Abbakka or Savarkar?” Kumaraswamy also said that Tipu did some good things too – “Who is responsible for (introducing) sericulture in Karnataka? When Sringeri Mutt was attacked, who protected it? We should speak about it also,” he said. Instead, he added, the BJP only focused on the controversies during his rule.
The SDPI also condemned Narayan’s remarks on Siddaramaiah, seeking his arrest.
