After the attack on former minister and sitting MLA Tanveer Sait, political parties have begun implying links with the Social Democratic Party of India, asking whether the party is encouraging such acts of violence. When he visited the injured Sait in hospital, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said links to the SDPI would be explored. The ruling party, BJP, took this a step further, linking the incident to the Popular Front of India, a banned outfit based in Kerala. Home Minister R. Ashok also announced that they will call for a ban on SDPI, for there are several cases against them.
The SDPI strongly refuted these claims, saying the accused, Farhan, could merely be one among the thousands of fans. The SCPI denies that he is an official party worker. “Political leaders should have more sense. Their misleading statements will impact the peaceful atmosphere in the society. It’s the habit of BJP and Congress to politicise incidents like these and twist them to their own benefit,” said an official statement by Abdul Majeed, National General Secretary, SDPI and Devanoor Puttananjaiah, the SDPI candidate in the Hunsur Assembly by-election who is also the party’s state Vice President. “These assertions by political leaders show their irresponsible ways and reflect badly them. SDPI strongly condemns such irresponsible behaviour. These leaders need to behave in a more mature manner and quit defining every incident in this manner, which sends out the wrong message to society. They should be more truthful and sincere in the things they say.”
Party making inroads in the state
SDPI has 30 sitting counsellors across the state. As many as 80 Gram Panchayat members represent the party and three Gram Panchayat presidents are SDPI leaders. Mujahid Pasha, a BBMP member from Siddapura ward won from SDPI and he had been the chairman of the health committee for three years. In the recently concluded local elections, SDPI won five seats in Kolar district.
SDPI has full organising committees in place in 22 districts and its presence is felt in another eight. “It had become a single point agenda for the Congress, BJP and other big political parties to contain the growth of SDPI. “We have observed that there are evil attempts to connect the Mysuru incident to SDPI. We clarify here that there is no connection whatsoever. SDPI is growing across the nation as an alternate political party,” claims the party.
