Muttalik starts campaign attacking ‘secular’ BJP

Infamous for his outfit’s attack on women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009, Muttalik was admitted into the BJP on March 23 only to be dropped within hours.

Controversial Sri Rama Sene leader Pramod Muttalik launched his campaign for the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency on Saturday saying that the BJP had become secular and lost the stomach to fight the Hindutva battle. He added that he was proud to say he was part of the group of Sangh Parivar members who had demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992.

Infamous for his outfit’s attack on women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009, Muttalik was admitted into the BJP on March 23 only to be dropped within hours. He is now contesting as an Independent from two constituencies, Bangalore South and Dharwad, to hurt the vote base of the BJP candidates from there, H N Ananth Kumar and Prahlad Joshi, whom he blames for scuttling his BJP entry.

“To increase its votes, the BJP has abandoned Hindutva. There are two more sites in Kashi and Mathura where temples have to be built. Let the BJP, if they want the votes of Hindus, have the guts to accept these facts,” Muttalik said launching his campaign.

Claiming “a clash of ideologies in the BJP”, he noted that Rajnath Singh had sought an apology from Muslims. “The BJP has also turned secular. They don’t have the guts to fight the Hindutva battle anymore.”

The right-wing leader said it was the duty of those fighting for Hindutva to build a temple at Ayodhya at the site of the Babri Masjid. “I was a participant in the demolition of the masjid. I am willing to face punishment for it, but the BJP has given up on this. They want Ram and Babar.”

While Muttalik does not have a base in Bangalore, he claimed that lots of people were coming forward to help him. The battle in Bangalore South is primarily between the BJP’s five-term MP Ananth Kumar and debutant Nandan Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder fielded by the Congress.

Muttalik was among 28 members of the Sri Rama Sene arrested for the attack on women at the Mangalore pub, under the guise of protecting Hindu culture. Muttalik was accused of instigating the attack.