Bengaluru: Taking a dig at BJP president Amit Shah's visit to the city, CM Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that the ruling party knows how to extinguish communal fires lit up by Shah.
After receiving the Person of the Year award from the Bengaluru Press Club, he said, “Shah's brand of politics is known to all. He is known for making deliberate attempts to light communal fires in the state. The government knows how to scuttle his attempts.”
He said that Karnataka is a land of Sufi saints and sharanas who have propounded secular philosophy through their preaching. “Our government too is working on similar lines. We will surely uphold secular values and fight communal forces with renewed vigour to stop them from succeeding," he thundered.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines, he dismissed the BJP's challenge for the upcoming assembly polls next year. He claimed that the ways and methods of Amit Shah will not work in the state. “Shah's magic will not work here," he said.
Earlier in the day, training his guns on BJP leaders, the chief minister slammed that those who do not have faith in the Constitution should not hold high offices. "Dr B.R. Ambedkar has given us one of the best Constitutions in the world. Entire world hails it. However, there are some elements who often claim that they do not have faith in such a great Constitution, which is nothing but irony of this country," he said.
Appealing to his supporters not to equate him with Dr Ambedkar or late chief minister Devraj Urs, he said, “We are living in different eras and do not compare with such great personalities. I am Siddarmaiah. Let me be known and remembered only as Siddarmaiah.”
Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy charged that the BJP leaders are deliberately making attempts to fan communal disturbances across the state.
“We are also Hindus and we will not allow them to hijack Hindutva. Hindutva isn't a private property and the BJP leaders are indulging in political gimmicks by talking unabashedly about Hindutva,” he said.
He said that BJP leaders, like Shobha Karandlaje and Union minister of state for skill development Anant Kumar Hegde, are doing politics over dead bodies. “Wherever they see a dead body, they indulge in politics,” he alleged.
