Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah faced the wrath of BJP Yuva Morcha workers in Kodagu during his visit to flood-affected sites in the district on Thursday, August 18, 2022.
The immediate trigger for the protest was Siddaramaiah’s recent criticism of Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar and his politics. Mr. Siddaramaiah had recently remarked that Veer Savarkar had written mercy petition to the British seeking pardon and release from imprisonment and had made little contribution to the freedom struggle.
The BJP workers not only waved black flags at Mr. Siddaramaiah and shouted slogans but also displayed the portraits of Veer Savarkar. There were attempts to gherao the vehicle in which Mr. Siddaramaiah was travelling but the police foiled any such bid. However, the workers managed to get past the police cordon and one of them threw a poster through the car’s window asking Mr. Siddaramaiah to ‘’go back’’.
Mr. Siddaramaiah visited some of the flood-affected regions in the district and later inspected an embankment wall near the DC’s office in Madikeri, which is on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile, Minister for Cooperation S.T.Somashekar, who is in Mysuru, lashed out at Mr. Siddaramaiah’s timing of the visit. He said Kodagu district had been affected by heavy rains and flood for almost 15 days but Mr. Siddamaraiah had not bothered to visit then. ‘’Now that the floods have receded and the government has also distributed relief, he is out there for reasons best known to him,’’ said Mr.Somashekar.
