Bengaluru: The ruling Congress celebration and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) have locked horns in Karnataka over the alleged ‘mistreatment’ of a Scheduled Caste (SC) legislator whereas on go to to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters earlier this 12 months.
This was after a voice recording of Goolihatti Shekar, who stop the BJP after being denied a ballot ticket within the Karnataka election, despatched to BJP nationwide basic secretary (organisation) B.L.Santosh is doing the rounds and being performed on loop on Kannada TV information channels.
The alleged incident is alleged to have taken place round January when Shekar was denied entry to the Keshav Baliram Hedgewar museum on the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur for “being an SC”. Shekar comes from the Vadda group, categorized as SC in Karnataka.
In a press assertion, the RSS denied Shekar’s cost, saying that there isn’t any system of permitting guests into the Sangh workplace after registering their names. “Hence, this allegation is baseless and without merit. Be it any premises of the RSS or in memorials like this, everyone has unrestricted access … .The question of denial of entry to anyone has never risen,” RSS Dakshin Madhya Kshetra Karyavah N. Tippeswamy stated within the launch.
“Shri Goolihatti Shekhar who claims that this incident took place four months before the assembly elections has met many Sangh leaders since then but nowhere did he raise the issue of this so-called humiliation. It is surprising that such an allegation is made after ten months,” it added.
ThePrint reached out to Shekar by way of telephone and this report will probably be up to date as and when he responds.
In a protracted put up on X, previously Twitter, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah led his celebration’s assault on the RSS, the ideological patron of the BJP, by slamming its discriminatory tradition towards oppressed courses.
“Each the BJP and the RSS Parivar, whereas overtly opposing Muslims, additionally covertly discriminate towards Shudras and Dalits. The leaders of the Sangh Parivar, who at all times chant the mantra ‘We are all Hindus’, truly attempt to socially marginalise Shudra and Dalit communities
Leaders from the Dalit group, like Goolihatti Shekhar, can solely actually discover safeguarding within the ideas of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Structure, slightly than within the ideologies of Savarkar and Golwalkar from the Sangh Parivar…,” he tweeted.
The CM additionally hoped that Shekhar discovered from his expertise after the episode.
Siddaramaiah additional questioned why nobody from oppressed communities had been by no means in a position to stand up the Sangh ranks and insisted {that a} Dalit be appointed to the put up of RSS chief else its “leaders should stop deceiving people by lying that ‘Hindus are one’.”
Shudras and Dalits are successfully barred from the inside circles of the RSS. A revealing WhatsApp voice recording despatched by the ex-BJP MLA Goolihatti Shekhar to B L Santosh exhibits this actuality.
Each the BJP and the RSS Parivar, whereas overtly opposing Muslims, additionally covertly… pic.twitter.com/yhnqLuZQEM
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 6, 2023
Shekar, in the meantime, asserted that he revered the Sangh and its actions. “Just because I am not in the party, does not mean I do not respect them (RSS). They are all about service to the country, safeguarding the religion. I am not talking personally about anyone. When I went there (RSS HQ, entering the office was no problem and since I do not know what else was there, someone took me to the museum and I faced this problem. I only shared it, that’s all,” Shekar advised a Kannada information channel on Wednesday night.
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BJP defends Sangh
A number of BJP leaders, particularly from oppressed communities, have are available in Sangh’s defence and questioned the motives behind Shekar’s claims practically 10 months because the alleged incident.
“There is no need for any clarification. We don’t know his mental state. He says one thing while in the BJP and another when he leaves. The RSS aim is to create a division less and casteless society. Inside the RSS, no one knows each other’s caste,” former deputy CM Govind Karjol advised reporters Wednesday.
After successful as an Impartial in 2008, Karjol was among the many first MLAs to throw his weight behind B.S.Yediyurappa and assist kind the primary authorities of the BJP in southern India.
In September 2021, Shekar’s teary-eyed speech within the Karnataka meeting of how his mom was amongst 20,000 individuals forcefully transformed to Christianity grew to become the catalyst for the anti-conversion regulation — The Karnataka Safety of Proper to Freedom of Faith Act, 2022 — underneath the BJP authorities.
However, a survey to find out the “extent of conversion” proved that there was no conversion. In December 2021, the BJP authorities transferred Hosadurga tehsildar Y. Thippeswamy who had filed a report stating that there have been no cases of compelled conversions.
Regardless of a Cupboard nod, the Siddaramaiah authorities determined towards tabling a invoice in July for repealing the controversial anti-conversion regulation after contemplating the 2024 basic election.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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