Bengaluru: A war of words has begun between the state Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the violence following the first ever Tipu Jayanti celebrations organized by the Congress government in Karnataka.
Talking tough, Home Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dr G Parameshwar warned right wing organisations in the state against taking the law in their hands during the protests called on Friday.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Dr Parameshwar said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is unnecessarily politicising the Tipu birth anniversary celebration. “It is the right of the people to protest against the government in a democracy. However, if anyone takes the law in their hands, the government will be forced to take action as per law,” he warned.
The BJP could have taken up the issue during the Legislature session beginning from Monday and the government would have replied to all their questions, Dr Parameshwar said. Meanwhile, president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party Pralhad Joshi announced that his party has organized a protest march to Vidhana Soudha on November 17 to condemn the state government’s ‘appeasement’ politics.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, he said that during the mega rally, the party will reiterate its demand for the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He dismissed allegations of rising ‘intolerance’ in the state. Mr Joshi however condemned the threat against writer Girish Karnad in social media and said the police must take against the culprit.
Party national joint secretary, C.T. Ravi said that besides conducting agitations against the state government, Bharatiya Janata Party has asked its cadre to collect all required historic documents pertaining to Tipu Sultan.
The party has decided to collect the Mysore and British gazetteer and also documents from the British Library. Once the party gets the required documents to prove that Tipu was a ‘tyrant,’ it will expose the state government, Mr Ravi added.
A senior functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party told Deccan Chronicle here that with the intention of grabbing minority votes, the state government had conducted Tipu Jayanti celebrations inspite of stiff opposition.
“We will come up with ar counter strategy to check the appeasement politics of the Siddaramaiah government. While demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, party cadre will explain to the public the designs of the Congress government behind conducting Tipu Jayanti though several authors had described him as a tyrant,” he said.
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