Bengaluru: Udupi-Chikkamagaluru BJP MP and former minister Shobha Karandlaje is involved in a fresh controversy after she sent a list of '23 Hindu martyrs' to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on July 8, while demanding that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe the killing of RSS workers in the state and Dakshina Kannada district in particular.
After the death of RSS worker Sharath Bantwal following an attack on BC Road in Bantwal, the MP prepared the list of 23- Hindu victims, in which she added Ashok Poojari, who according to her, was ‘killed’ on September 20, 2015 at Moodabidri. Interestingly Ashok Poojari is still alive! In fact, Mr Poojari and his friend Vasu Acharya, residents of Eedu village in Karkala were attacked by a group of miscreants in which Poojari sustained head injuries and was admitted to a hospital. After being treated for over a month, he has recovered and is fine now.
The BJP MP has adopted a ‘pick and choose’ method while preparing the list of Hindu victims dropping a few victims from the list. A few deceased Hindu activists who were allegedly killed by Hindu extremist groups, do not find place in her list! For instance, Vinayak Baliga, a Mangaluru based RTI activist, who exposed the alleged misdeeds of temple officials, was brutally murdered on March 21, 2016. The main accused was NaMo Brigade founder Naresh Shenoy. Another Hindu activist, Harish Poojari, was killed by miscreants in Bantwal. The RSS had staged a protest and called for a Dakshina Kannada bandh over his killing. But the police named Bhuvit Shetty, a Bajrang Dal activist as accused in the Poojari murder case.
Recently Kenjoor Praveen Poojari, a BJP worker was killed by Hindu Jagarana Vedike activists for allegedly transporting cows. He had evencampaigned for Ms Karandlaje in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However she omitted him from the list since Hindu Jagarana Vedike is a frontal organization of the Sangh Parivar.
It is also alleged that those who were killed in a road accident, land row, acts of robbery and who had committed suicide find place in Shobha's list.
For instance, the MP included Vamana Poojari though he had committed suicide near his daughter's house in Moodabidri. In another case, Shobha named BJP leader Ravi Magali, who was killed in a road accident while returning from a bar in Mysuru.
In a damage control measure, Shobha expressed her regret for including Ashok Poojari’s name in the list sent to Rajnath.
