Dear Editor,
With the arrest of a Hindu activist Srikanth Poojary in a 31-year old case related to Ram Mandir agitation, the Siddaramaiah government has been proving repeatedly that it is hostile to Hindus and Hindu outfits. If the investigating agencies take action against the opposition party stalwarts for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, in the eyes of Congress it is vendetta politics. The rhetoric of Congress and its allied parties is so loud that the politics of vendetta is outlandish to them and they cannot see anything beyond developmental activities to undertake. There was Siddaramaiah government for full term from 2013 to 2018. In the 2018 Assembly election, there was the Kumaraswamy government propped up by Congress with the sinister design of keeping BJP out despite having emerged as the single largest party for the first one year. Then Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister was puppet in the hands of Congress because his government was supported by Congress which had more number of seats than the JDS had. Congress had greater say and had greater authority than the Chief Minister belonging to JDS had. The action that was not taken from 2013 to 2019 (6 six years) is now being taken to settle political score against BJP. If the action taken is with an eye on Lok Sabha election, it will not fetch any political dividend but rather it boomerangs on the performance of the party. It is natural when politically motivated action is taken, politicization is the remedy for political gains for any political party. He has been charged with participation in Mandir agitation, not killing or injuring anybody. State Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara has justified the arrest stating that there are 31 pending cases and this is one among them. He further says that Hindus are involved in most of the cases. His statement gives fillip to the charge by BJP that the action has been taken because “Hindus are involved”. Siddaramaiah has written to the police to drop cases pertaining to D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli in which PFI and SDPI were involved. In the D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli case, 3 people were killed. It is strange that the CM wants the case against rioters dropped. Further, to justify the arrest of the Hindu activist, Minister M.B. Patil tells the Union Minister Prahlad Joshi that during the BJP rule Hijab and Halal issues were brought to the fore. The hijab issue pertains to uniform. This issue related to a Udupi school wherein the students wearing hijab were disallowed for enforcing uniform rules. The non-issue was made an issue and it was magnified to the extent of creating disturbance in Karnataka state. Finally the matter is in court. Anything talked about this would be sub judice. Moreover the Karnataka High Court has upheld the action taken by the College Principal and the government in this regard. The arrest of Hindu activist for 31-year old case cannot be ‘quid pro quo’ for Hijab issue. If Siddaramaiah believes that the arrest of the Hindu activist fetches more votes in the Lok Sabha election, he is living in a fools’ paradise.
K.V. Seetharamaiah
