Hitting back at the Opposition BJP for staging protests seeking release of arrested Hindutva activist and kar sevak Shrikanth Pujari, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday described the arrested activist as a “social miscreant” who uses religion as a shield to protect his criminal activities and pointed out that he is facing allegations of involvement in 16 anti-social activities, including illegal liquor sales, gambling, and matka.
In a release, the Chief Minister said, “The BJP leaders should either openly declare their party’s support for all his alleged criminal actions, or publicly apologize and withdraw their protest.”
He remarked, “Pujari, who flaunts himself as a devotee of Rama and a kar sevak is in fact a social miscreant in the eyes of the law. If such individuals are not arrested and are allowed to roam freely, then even Lord Rama will not forgive.”
He alleged that the increase in criminal activities in the State was due to the BJP’s illegal actions and their alleged tendency to colour crime and criminals with caste and religion. “Even if a person commits heinous crimes, if he wraps a saffron shawl and shouts that he is a Hindu, BJP leaders rush to his defence. This is not only a disgrace to the saffron shawl but also to Hinduism itself. It’s a betrayal of religion. Let the law take its course,” he remarked.
BJP leaders need to understand that assigning caste and religious labels to criminals was extremely dangerous, he said and appealed to them to stop playing “petty politics” in the name of God and religion, and try to act as a responsible Opposition.
Maintaining that the BJP leaders were rallying around a criminal suspect out of desperation, he said the Congress government was becoming popular day by day unlike the BJP State unit, which he said was like a “house with a hundred doors.” “Even today, senior leaders of the party have not accepted its State president. The party is so powerless that it cannot even issue a warning notice to MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who is making serious allegations against Mr. Yediyurappa and his children every day,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the arrest of the kar sevak was a law and order issue and not vendetta politics. He told mediapersons in Bengaluru, “We are doing the job of maintaining law and order. We are a peace-loving State, there is no place for anti-social activities.”
